Through the Flames of Revenge
by DragoonMach5
Summary: Shortly after his defeat, Magolor ends up in the inferno. He meets and befriends Marx and other villains who have all fallen to Kirby's skill. As they band together to gain the keys to a second chance on the surface, secrets are revealed, souls are unbound, and the past comes back to haunt both Magolor and Marx.
1. Chapter 1

The darkness cradled him in welcoming warmth. It was and empty space of blackness and he was just like a falling feather in wind. His weary eyelids felt like weights, he could barely open them to peak….but there was blackness. He blinked several times, but no image emerged. He felt as though he awoke from deep, deep slumber, like he had been asleep for a thousand years.

_Where am I?_ He thought to himself. He held out his mitten covered hand in front of his golden eyes, he can see them clear and bright as day in this unusual darkness._ am I dreaming? _He held his drowsy head and concentrated hard to find his recent memories.

Soon in his mind emerged eight glowing green eyes, the faint silhouette of a four headed dragon with a sort of crown on its highest head. He can barely see the fearsome scowl on its face; he felt a chill down his spine. _Landia? _He could hear the sirens and in the pure white hull, flashing white to red and back. _My, my ship! _He felt the abyss temperature rise. He saw even more images and he remembered the violent crash in a paradise, he saw the blurry image of pink ball.

_Kirby?_ The temperature raised more; he felt an uncomfortable dampness in his clothes. He heard his own anxious voice as the memories of places in the paradise and creatures in it passed by.

"Kirby beat the dragon," the voice hissed. He saw Landia, split into four smaller dragons by what seemed to be a lava pool. Kirby was by its side flailing his stubby pink arms and dancing on his red feet with a smile on his face. There were three other silhouettes but they were blurry to figure out.

_And…and the-_

"And the crown….you got the crown," He heard his own voice reply, but it was deeper and sinister. The temperature was now uncomfortably stifling, He began to breathe heavily, and He saw himself in his blue regal outfit, white cape and his blue cap with the crown on top of it. "Limitless power." He saw his body transform into a red gaseous body, his hat become black and resembled a jester hat. His scarf that covered his mouth now black against his white face and purple eyes.

_The glory….the POWER._ He felt the air become hot and his skin felt a burning sensation He thought: _You had it all Magolor, the world, no; the ENTIRE UNIVERSE was your oyster! WHAT HAPPENED?_

"And then Kirby took it from you….." The voice replied in a deepened almost monstrous voice. He saw Kirby in his green sword cap with needles and a star on its crest. He pulled the Ultra Sword, 10 times higher than him and slashed it toward Magolor's powerful form…one...two… and enlarged it, preparing for the third strike.

_No…No…NO…..NO!_

"…and LEFT YOU TO DIE."

SWISH! A slight pause before the being began exploding in a loud moan in pain. The entire picture of the memory shattered like glass as it faded white.

Magolor opened his eyes to see nothing but crimson, the flouting feeling before now was plummeting at an incredible velocity. The burning sensation he felt before became far worse, Magolor found the pain downright unbearable. He raised his hand slowly as it ached in pain to see what was happening to him. The hand is engulfed in white hot flames, he screamed in terror of the intense agony. The flames spread up his cape and body (fortunately he had no legs or feet) it engulfed his hat and every part of his body but his eyes. His whimpering and cries became shrieks and bloodcurdling screams. He could feel the blisters forming on his skin and hear the crackles of burning skin.

_PLEASE!...JUST LET ME DIE! THE PAIN….ITS TOO MUCH!_ He became like a white fireball, falling through the crimson abyss into the purple gaseous looking cloud below.

"Such a foolish child…" the mimicking voice echoed… the cloud grew closer, looking as endless as the abyss. "You're already DEAD." The cloud seemed to swallow Magolor whole. The flames, the pain, and his sight it all seemed to be dulling a little. It wasn't enough to stop Magolor's screams of pain and thoughts pleading for mercy, but at least he could hear his own thoughts now.

_Dead?_ He thought. _So I am going to Hell? But!... what did I do wrong?_ He could not remember everything quite yet, but judging from the memories he saw and what the voice had said, he may have deserved it. The purple gas formed like a tunnel with no end in sight. In then a small red light appeared, it grew bigger, was this the flames of hell? No the light did not flicker like flames and it was cooler, almost cold. It grew bigger…bigger….CRASH!

The white fireball had hit not flames but solid sand, the flames burned like a bonfire before vanishing; leaving behind Magolor with his clothes slightly charred by the flames but was actually unharmed. The chill of the gust blew red sand onto Magolor's white cape. He moaned, and his body throbbed, but it was nowhere near as bad as it was a few, painful minutes ago.

He rose to a stand and slightly hovered over the ground as he had no feet. The desert sands were a bright red, and high. The sky was reddish, yellow with what seem to be a large orange sun high about. The brown clouds moved across it from time to time. In the distance, he could see spread out dead trees on the sandy hills.

"Well…at least it's not a blazing inferno." Magolor spoke to himself out loud. A gust of wind blew strong against him and almost knocked him over. "I can't just stand here." He began to walk across the red, lifeless waste land. The temperature felt as though it were 70 degrees. A chill temperature for a place known as Hell.

The only hellish part about this place was that there was no end in sight to this desert. It felt like he had been walking for hours. A sudden but powerful gash was lashed to the back of Magolor's head; it knocked him across the sandy hill and sent him tumbling down it. Magolor rose a little; he pulled down his white, blue belted scarf to spit out and wipe the sand from his mouth, leaving a sensation more intense than a mint flavored gum. Before he could rise to his feet, he felt a sharp point on his back keeping him down. Magolor turned himself over to find a demonic looking Waddle Dee. It was darker tint than normal, friendly ones and it had narrow yellow eyes with small bat wings on its back and a spear in its hand; pointed at Magolor.

"Well now, what do with have here..." the Demonic Waddle Dee growled, although it had no mouth it face seemed to form a sinister smile in the place it should be. Two more seemed to appear out of purple dust.

"Fresh meat?" The one on the left looked at the others.

"The best kind, with no defense!" They flouted closer to Magolor and drew their spears. Magolor shivered in complete fear.

"Don't you guys want to eat some one much bigger and tastier than me? I mean, I don't have anything on me that taste good any way!" Magolor pushed his hands out in pathetic defense.

"We don't get too many off of Pop Star anymore!" Said the middle one. "You're the first one we've had in five years!"

"Pop Star? I'm Halcandran! I'm not tasty at all" Magolor only visited Pop Star once, unwillingly.

"Even better! We only had one from there over 20 years ago, he tasted great!" They came closer. Magolor prepared himself for another painful session, he shut his eyes tightly. Waiting for the first stab, but he instead heard a high pitched screech. He opened them to find one Demon Dee flying in the desert sun.

"What the-UFFF" another one was sent flying, by a…beach ball?

"Wha? Hey!" The last one was sent away by the beach ball that relayed over Magolor's head. He is too stunned to realize he escaped a second death.

"Well now, look at who we have here…" On top the ball was a little jester, with little brown shoes and a red bowtie. His eyes were large, but innocent and his jester hat was split red and blue, He had no arms however. "You're a new type of face, what did you in?" The jester bounced on his beach ball gleefully as he waited for a response. Magolor was speechless, he finally meet someone else who wasn't a demon….or so it seems.

"It's really complicated….let's just say I tried to take over the universe and a little pink ball ended up killing me…"

"Wait." He froze on top his ball. "Did you say a little, PINK ball. What was his name?" His black eyes concentrated on Magolor's golden eyes.

"…Kirby." Magolor was a little confused, but then he remembered the stories he heard of Kirby and feats against other villains. The jester looked down at his own feet and scowled in thought.

"So you too….how did you fight him?" At the end the jester's words, a golden object fell from Magolor's cape, it was a golden crown. Magolor's eyes widened. The Master Crown was still with him? In his cape the whole time? It must have been destroyed along with him in his death.

"Er…with this!" Magolor scrambled for the crown and showed to the jester. "The source of limitless power, the Master Crown!" The jester eyes widened.

_I heard the ancients created this too, but I thought any power greater Nova was a myth!_ The jester pondered. "Well then" he jumped back on his ball. "Unless you want to wander in this desert for years longer, you should come with me. I'm living with other beings of great power in a stylish mansion."

"Wow, wait…REALLY?" Magolor jumped for joy, finally someplace comfortable and safe! And in a mansion at that! He followed the jester on his bouncing ball through the desert. It was only about a few minutes until they reached a dirt road leading to a darken sky in the desert.

"It just down this road…." The jester turned to the Halcandran. "Say, what's your name anyway?"

"Me? Oh I'm Magolor."

"Magolor, eh? Well then Magolor, my name is Marx." He winked at Magolor who seemed to smile under his scarf. All will be well for him in this hellhole…for now.

**-End of Chapter 1-**

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

**Heavens...first Fan Fiction and I'm a tad bit nervous...I would love constructive reviews please...I do not own these characters, they belong to Nintendo.  
><strong>


	2. Chapter 2: New Home

**-Chapter 2- **

He could remember the bluish-grey sky and tin smelling streets. The city always looked like a construction site. The houses were always unfinished, made steel and iron. There were dirt roads and some were paved, but only by important buildings or factories. Most grown-ups worked in the factories, but that didn't seem to bother the little Halcandran children. It made them feel like they owned the back allies and streets that few grown-ups occupied, mainly the homeless. The city was like a shield to the rest of the Halcandra, which was mostly volcanic. Few Halcandrans left to the volcanic frontier, and even fewer survive and live out there.

Magolor was rather lonely. He rarely played with the other kids and spent most of his time in his parents' home, reading books and searching the internet for new topics and things he never knew about. This was especially good since Halcandrans only spent around five months in school a year as they trained the teachers for other jobs in the factory. His parents both worked in the factories and they never told Magolor what they did. He didn't even know who ran it or what came out of there.

He was one of the only few Halcandran children who understood what was coming for them in the future: Torment in the Factory. He hears of many accidents and that the workers are even abused! Magolor was eight years old now, but at thirteen he would be heading to the "Egg Engines" as it was called by the children. He was going to enjoy his life now, but he also knew he had to escape his horrid fate that was coming.

_I can't spend the rest of my life there, I have to go! _He thought every single day_. It's only a matter of time!_

* * *

><p>They had finally reached the end of the desert; the road had led to a dark brown, over casted cliff. The gusts of wind were strong, and it was far colder on this edge of the desert in contrast to the rest of it.<p>

"Hm…there's a portal that should be here." Marx bounced on his ball, puzzled. _Nightmare probably forgot about me again. He was always sitting in his room meditating and practicing new spells, as usual._ He turned to Magolor, who sat on a rock, in a position of deep thought. "Er, my friend is gonna open the portal in a few, so just a…hang tight for a bit." He nervously laughed. He knew Nightmare was late but this was just ridiculous! It's not like he didn't find someone valuable to the team.

"Uh, yeah, I guess I can wait." Magolor replied, not turning his head to Marx. He stared into the brown overcast as if longing for something. _What was that strange voice that was talking to me before?_ He remembered it taunting him, reminding him that Kirby had ruined his plans in the first place. _But Kirby was…he helped me rebuild my ship and I was-_

"Grateful, hmph." He heard his own voice in his mind reply. "Had it not been for me, you would be back on that miserable planet. Working yourself down into your grave!" Magolor's eyes widened. This could not have been him, the voice inside. But what could it truly be? Some sort of dark entity?

_Been for you? Just WHO ARE YOU?_ Magolor clenched the ears in his hat. He shut his eyes tightly trying to dig deep in his mind to find who it was. No image…nothing but the darkness seen before.

"Um, Magolor?" Marx crept up behind him. Perhaps Magolor did not realize Marx had been watching him this entire time. "The portal's open." Marx said lightly. Behind him was a black star silhouette with a sort of space inside. "Are you ok?"

"Me? I'm fine, I was just…thinking about something." He gave nervous look to Marx. Knowing that that voice was looming…inside of him. Bothering him, he couldn't think straight.

"No need to look so nervous, the people at the mansion are…friendly enough." Marx looked toward the portal. "Come on, let's go."

The portal lead to a castle-like mansion with a dark and eerie atmosphere. It was made of dark purple brick; its roofs and domes a grey stone with marble borders. It had a rounded arch way in the gate that lead to the courtyard. A white walkway going through purple grass and black roses. The sky looked like some form of subspace. Unfortunately, this type of atmosphere did not help Magolor's uneasy mood.

"It's mysterious and lovely, but also really, REALLY creepy." Magolor looked around in tense awe. It sent chills up his spine but also sent a sort of calming feeling that it actually had a sort of beauty. This was a calming sight that was clashing with his inner turmoil.

"Heh, if you're this easily scared, you should see inside!" Marx nudged him cheerfully. The interior was also like a royal castle, purple walls with marble outline. The floor was checkered purple and glass tiles that showed a form of space underneath. A staircase splitting off two rooms on the balcony was in the foyer.

"Yep, this is home and it better than the rest of this hellhole!" Marx bounced toward the hexagonal brick in the center of room.

"Just what is this place, as a whole I mean?" Magolor eyes wondered everywhere.

"Some call it Nightmare." A mysterious voice answered from a distance. A rather ghostly phantom silhouette appeared on left side of the balcony. "To others…Hell, Inferno, Underworld." It descended down the stairs, revealing to be a sort of humanoid, vampire like phantom wrapped in a black cape. He wore what seen like sunshades above a sinister smile.

"The flames are only in the beginning, during the decent." said another, deeper voice. This silhouette appeared to be completely round. "In reality, this world is survival of the fittest. The weak suffer and the strong live an endless life here. There used to be only one escape, a second death." It descended behind the clocked creature. It was like a giant fireball, with a small eyeball. Black with orange irises that have orange veins connected to them as though his eye was irritated.

"But a second death meant to live in the flames for eternity." A ghastly, female voice echoed in the foyer. Appeared in a poof of dust was a witch-like entity. She had a purple hat and cape with rainbow bands on the borders and ribbons. Her yellow eye peeped out at Marx and Magolor. She stood behind of the two other creatures.

"Tell me Marx, who is this new specimen here?" The black cloaked turned his attention at Magolor, who began to shiver.

"…Who Nightmare... Him? Oh... Yeah this is Magolor and guess what he has?" Marx nudged Magolor to show the crown. He scrambled through his cape to find it, holding it before everyone in it gleaming beauty.

"So, YOU slayed the great dragon Landia?" Nightmare examined Magolor hard.

"Well not me, I tricked Kirby into slaying it and I took the crown. Despite the power I got, I wasn't able to beat Kirby." Magolor said weary, with his head down.

"Interesting, you and Marx are alike. Both tricked Kirby to get what you want. I like that." Nightmare smiled, showing his white fangs. "You see, we all had our share of rough battles with Kirby. We were all soundly defeated…." Nightmare lowered his head as though trying his to forget how it happened. "At least until now….before I get into our plans however, I need proof that the Master Crown is still at full power." He pulled a skeletal hand from his cloak and pointed at the crown.

"Yes, I doubt you have what it takes to be one of us." said the flame like eyeball.

"You doubt him Dark Mind?" Nightmare turned to the flame eyeball.

"He looks about as frail as they come. Marx how did you even fish this one out the desert? I'm surprised he didn't get eaten by Demon Dees!" He pushed pass Nightmare and rushed toward Marx and Magolor, only arm length away from their faces. Magolor glared at Dark Mind for his insult. He knew was a bit weak, but he didn't need to be reminded of it.

"Hey, I can sense power you know!" Marx leaped forward, scowling at Dark Mind's large, squinting eye. "Why else would I save him from Demon Dees? I sensed the crown from the time he started falling into the abyss!" He Jumped up and down in anger. Fangs began to become visible in Marx's mouth, his eyes and body grew larger. "You always doubt someone's power when they first walk in the door! I'm I right Drawcia?" his jester hat stood straight up. Magolor stepped back from his new friends fuming temper.

"It's the truth!" The witch in the back finally broke her silence in Marx's defense. "You doubted me also! You're not special just because you're from the mirror world you know!"

"SLIENCE!" Nightmare shouted. Everyone's mouth zipped shut instantly.

"Giant flame faced freak." Marx muttered under his breath as he slowly shrunk back to his normal size along with his eyes and his fangs sank away. His face full of exhaustion and his jester hat edges, relived of its stress, sank to the floor. Magolor looked at Marx with pity but also fear; he didn't seem like a guy who could get enraged. And yet Magolor was touched that someone had stood up for him.

"Magolor." A calm face returned to Magolor from Nightmare.

"Uh, alright. Let hope this crown didn't lose its charm!" Magolor began to raise the crown to his head. Who knows what would happen to him if it didn't work. As soon as it made contact the crown began to glow along with Magolor's body. His body became red and gaseous. His face turned from brown to white and his golden eyes turned to purple. His blue hat became a black jester hat and his white, blue belted scarf became a black, red belted one. His mittens turned to gloves with a sun like emblem that acted as wrists. Nightmare and his two accomplices watched in awe.

"Hahahaha. Now this is more like limitless power." Magolor's voice had become deep, dark and almost monstrous. He finally felt invincible again like he owned the world. He emitted red spheres from his hands into the air. Exploding them like fireworks.

"Impressive!" Nightmare clapped.

"Better than I thought." Dark Mind begrudgingly admitted. Drawcia stared at the gaseous wizard, eyes gleaming. Marx's eyes were gleaming as well. They looked like an innocent kitten's eyes, but deep down he felt respect…and envy.

Magolor removed the crown as he lowered himself to the ground, reverting to normal. He grinned under his scarf, feeling accepted.

"Well now, I think it time for a rest" Dark Mind teleported away quickly.

"I…I shall be heading out as well, to my room." Drawcia faded away.

"Well, I guess I shall explain everything later my friends. Uh…Good Night." Nightmare faded away as well, leaving Marx and Magolor alone. Magolor didn't understand why they left, so soon. Had he scared them?

"Don't mind them, there just jealous." Marx walked up to Magolor. "Not bad powers Magolor, Not bad."

"Thanks Marx." Magolor looked down at the shining crown in his hands. It began to glow a reddish color.

"Hey! What's that thing doing?" Marx stared at the crown puzzled. And for a few seconds, Marx saw Magolor a different form. His scarf no longer covered his mouth instead a disturbing broad smile with a red iris eye in it. His hat had become something like ram's horns, Dark teal, with silver rings with black spikes around it, ripped in some places. His body and cape were still normal however.

Marx jumped back from the horrid image of his friend. He wasn't really a monster, was he? Is this the crown's power_? What is this? part of his SOUL? Cause this is even creeper than my soul form._ Marx stared wide eyed at him for moments. The creature snapped back into the Magolor he knew.

But he wasn't the only one who saw a dark, demented version of his friend. During that few seconds, Magolor also saw something disturbing about Marx. Marx's Jester puffs stood up and were ripped, a long tongue stuck out from Marx's disturbing grin. His gained, large eyes with his pupils moving every which way. Magolor jumped from this strange image. _Is this? Marx? What's happened to you?_ But both of them heard that ghostly monstrous voice that had been mimicking Magolor's.

"Behold children! See your true selves, part of your own souls! The darkness within your dark hearts!" Magolor recognized it.

"You Again?" Magolor stared at the ceiling, searching for the voice. The illusion of his friend had disappeared.

"WHO?" Marx for the first time began to show fright.

"It's this voice it keeps, haunting me!" Magolor began to hold his head. "Since I got here I could hear it! And it won't leave alone!"

"…You think it's the crown, I mean it was just glowing a moment ago." Marx sighed. Awkwardness had filled the air. "I…I think I'm gonna go take a nap. I've had enough for one day!" Marx walked weary up the steps.

"Uh, yeah I'll go sit in the yard and think…a bit..." Magolor started for the door. "And Marx," He called back.

"What is it?" He turns around dreary eyed.

"Thank you, I'm mean, you seriously rock for saving me back there." Magolor smiled and pushed open the door.

"No problem." Marx smiled and continued on his way. But that crown was still on his mind. He wanted it, but also feared it_. I can get it from Magolor. With power like that, I bet I could use it even better than him. _He thought. Marx made an evil grin as he disappeared into the door.

Magolor continued into the courtyard and stopped, clenching the crown. The purple grass swayed in the breeze. He glared at it, he loved its power; but he hated its torment. He hated that he needed it to survive here.

"You gave me power. But you torment me." He started. "Just what do you want from me?"

"Your pain, your desires and…." It replied. "ALL OF YOUR SOUL." The laughing amplified, too much for Magolor's ears. The courtyard seemed to sway, and cold drafts seem to creep over Magolor body. He felt pins and needles sticking him everywhere.

"No, what are you- stop it!" Magolor looked to the sky for help, screaming for help. But his screams became muffled, blackness began to shroud his sight, he was losing his grip to this world. He felt as though he were sinking and then falling. Everything just dimmed and swirled deeper into the darkness, until it was completely black.

**-End of Chapter 2-**


	3. Chapter 3

**-Chapter 3- **

"He's still alive." Nightmare had started "But if I recall, When Magolor 'closes his eyes.' It looks as though he is squinting them"

"He's eyes aren't even there anymore!" Drawcia exclaimed. Magolor's eyes were gone and only blackness was shown on his face. The crown was on his head as he flouted inside a purple, transparent bubble. "It's as though they were erased by paint thinner."

"He is either in a deep nightmare or under possession. The only culprit can be the crown." Nightmare grabbed a violet spell book off the shelf. They were in a library, with stories high worth of books in the green hexagonal room. A large dome served as the ceiling. "Perhaps an awakening spell should do the trick." He flipped the pages and laid his skeletal hand on the yellowing pages. Dark Mind was at his side, focusing his orange eye at Magolor's blank face. There was only silence as Nightmare flipped the pages to find a suitable spell.

"Nightmare, have you ever considered taking the crown?" Mind turned to Nightmare. Nightmare stopped flipping pages and stared and Dark Mind.

"I have been tempted yes." He turned back to the incapacitated Magolor, reciting a spell in an unknown language. A loud slam interrupted him, everyone turned to the door across the room. Marx was bouncing lightly on top of his pink and green ball. His eyes were groggy, as though he just woke up.

"What…what was that screaming earlier?" He stared wearily at the villainous group before both his eyes began to wander all over the room. He bounced closer, jumping over the book shelves toward the purple bubble.

"That was Magolor." Nightmare said quickly and returned to reciting the awakening spell.

"Where the hell are his eyes?" Marx's eyes widen at his friend's blank face. "You sure you're not giving him a bad dream Nightmare?" He smirked at his own joke. Nightmare ignored him and continued his spell.

"You can't help but be annoying can you?" Dark Mind gave Marx an exhausted look.

"I would like to ask you the same thing sometimes fireball." Marx glared at him for a few, and then lost interest. "What's wrong with him anyway?" He turned to Magolor inside bubble.

"I'm surprised you didn't hear him screaming out in the courtyard" Drawcia said

"I was a little tired from that ordeal that we had in foyer earlier."

"Hmm, on the main note, Magolor fell into some sort of sleeping curse. Nightmare should wake him up any second now-"

"AHH!" Magolor jumped up, gaining back his golden eyes now wide with fright. The bubble burst, dropping him to the ground. He pivoted his head around the library, confused. "Where- Where am I?"

"Well he is awake now!" Marx jumped down from his ball. "So how did ya sleep?"

"Terribly." Magolor rose to his normal standing position.

"Magolor, by any chance, did you see the Master Crown in your sleep?" Nightmare asked. Magolor slowly turned to Nightmare.

"Yeah, and he…it." Magolor sighed and tried to contain himself, he shuttered. "I was on a golden carpet and it sat on a red throne in front of me. Then I heard a bunch of laughing and it sprouted tentacles! He started whipping me with them!"

Everyone gave him weird looks at first. Marx began to chuckle before bursting out laughing with his high pitched voice. Magolor glared at him. _Damn it Marx! Really? _Magolor cussed in his mind. The other villains conversed with one another in a corner. _Great, now everyone thinks I'm a Nutcase!_ He folded his hands and pouted.

"That's enough laughter Marx." Nightmare spoke out to him. Marx finally stopped rolling around on the ground. "Let's all gather in the dining room to discuss our plans. The time has come to make actions!" Nightmare opened his cape revealing a dimensional space inside. Drawcia and Dark Mind entered it. "Perhaps you can join us when you have completely calmed down Marx." He disappeared away.

Marx finally got up and turned to Magolor. "I'm sorry, but that was hilarious!"

"Marx, its' not really funny, I was in real pain in there!" Magolor shook his head.

"Well you looked dead as a door knob to us, heck you weren't even breathing." Marx jumped on top his green and pink ball again.

"Ack! This crown has caused me nothing but trouble! I should just throw it away!" Magolor ripped the crown off his head and prepared to shatter it across the ground.

"Magolor! Are you nuts? Without that crown you'll be out in that desert running from Demon Dees. That crown is the only reason you're here! and alive at that!" Marx reasoned with him. "Break it and Nightmare might as well kill you."

Magolor sighed; he slipped the crown back inside his cape. Feeling defeated he figured he might as well endure the torture. It's either this or burn in the flames forever. "You gotta point." He said.

"After all, your one of only people here I can really talk to." Marx smiled. "Come on, I'm kinda hungry." Magolor followed him out of the Library and opened the doors for Marx. _Marx wake up now! Can't let yourself open up to him! It will leave you vulnerable! _He thought to himself.

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><p>The Dining Room had a wooden table with eight antique looking chairs around it. There was lavender curtain around the rectangular room. A golden trimmed mirror stood at the opposite end of the door. Nightmare was already sitting at the end and Dark Mind and Drawcia on opposite sides of each other. Marx sat with Drawcia on the right side of the table and Magolor with Dark Mind on the left. Magolor took notice of the three empty seats at the end.<p>

"One of our guests will not be with us for the meeting tonight." Nightmare began. "He has business in the upper world."

"Wait, sorry to interrupt but, someone already escaped?" Magolor stared at Nightmare.

"This someone is Zero. A ,as I would put it, god like entity of sorrow and hate. He can travel between realms as he wishes. He is aiding us in our return."

"And what about those two seats?" Magolor pointed to them.

"TRATIORS!" Dark Mind's voice boomed across the room. "ROUGES, BLASTED WRECTHED FOOLS!" he voice shook the table.

"Easy Dark Mind, we shall get revenge against them too." Nightmare said in a soothing voice.

"Revenge?" Magolor looked puzzled.

"Against Kirby, who else?" Marx stared at him. But he then noticed the other seats. "Oh yeah, two other villains went rouge to find the keys themselves. Don't see the logic in that in this dump! They can't even find them, so I've heard"

"Keys?"

"There are five keys that open the dark gate, the only escape from this inferno." Nightmare rose from his seat. "This is phase one of our plan, once we gain our freedom we shall consult Zero and then launch a full scale assault on Pop Star." He raised his skeletal arms into the sky. "In the process, extract our vengeance against Kirby!" Blue stars emitted from the dimensional space in his open cape. Everyone clapped or cheered at the display; everyone but Magolor. He stared down the table, deep in thought again.

_I…I don't feel that vengeance just against Kirby. No it's not just him._ He clenched his fists. His memories, some of them prior to that incident with his ship, they were starting to come back. But the flow was too slow for him_. Halcandra's factories, they were…worse than this place._ He remembered. _I tried to get away, but what stopped me? Damn it WHAT?_

"I could remember when my creator started to paint more of me." Drawcia voice interrupted Magolor's thoughts. "The bright colors and the slashing with his brush. He went out of his way to make magical paint and he even hung me in an eccentric frame." Drawcia began to shed a yellow tinted tear from her yellow eye. "I thought I was so beautiful and special in that art gallery. But everyday all I heard were insults and criticism by the world's so called 'critics!'" Her ghastly voice became harsh. "Calling me trash, garbage, that I was painted by a two year old!" She began to sob, drenching her purple scarf around her face. "My creator was the only thing, the only THING! That kept me sane! That kept me Happy! He would always tell me I was better than all living things combined!" She began to shiver violently. "and then…I saw HER! That flesh bag that he called his one and only, to my face!"

Drawcia's eyes turned from one to five. They stared at Dark Mind and Magolor, who began to lose feelings in his hands. "So I finally had enough, I configured my magic from within my fibers and conjured this sorceress form. I escaped from that wretched museum, and went back to the studio where I was born…back to him and his 'girlfriend.'" Marx did his best scoot his seat away from her. But due to his lack of arms, it was to no avail. "I used my paint and transformed his entire world into a colorful canvas in front of his eyes, their flesh into paint." The eyes narrowed. "I turned that flesh bag of a woman into a hideous, slimy beast. And my creator, my dearest creator… I splashed so much paint thinner onto him THAT I MELTED AWAY HIS SKIN AND MOST OF HIS FLESH!" A large gaping, slimy yellow, monstrous mouth had exploded from her face and tore away the scarf. Magolor and Marx screeched in fright of the mouth that appeared. Drawcia noticed their fright and the mouth slowly disappeared completely from her grey face.

"I believe you have frightened them greatly." Nightmare said blankly.

"Worry not children, the spell was undone thanks to my defeat under the hands of Kirby. He was lucky a ball is all I turned him into!" She used a large rainbow paint brush to redraw her purple scarf. Magolor still quivered from the horrendous sight. "This pretty much ended my worldly travels in making canvases."

"As beings of darkness," Nightmare began. "Dark Mind and I were born from fears and negative emotions of all creatures in universe. We decided to spread our darkness across the world for our amusement, but also to gain more power and eventually control the entire universe."

"Or at least he wanted the universe; I took no interest in other worlds, Just the Mirror World." Dark Mind said "its shine...appealed to me. But it also bothered me." Marx yawned loudly in his seat and slouched down in his seat.

"Enough chit-chat however, we must start looking for the first key!" Nightmare opened his cape and it revealed the image of a city in flames. "It lies somewhere in Flare City. I will give you a few minutes to bring any materials you may need. Then we will all meet at the gate." He and the other villains disappeared in a wave of dust, again leaving Marx and Magolor alone. They exchanged glances before heading through the door out of the dining room.

* * *

><p>Magolor had no real materials aside from the Master Crown, Marx only brought a camera. They were back in the foyer, about to go into the court yard.<p>

"Never been to Flare City." Marx began. "Hear the place has a lot of bars and shops though."

"Marx…What was that? That big slimy mouth Drawcia spewed out during her story. It really freaked me out!" Magolor trembled at thought of it.

"That my friend was her soul leaping out of her." Marx showed an evil grin. "A soul form is a form someone may take on after a near death experience. A last ditch effort to take out an enemy. It shows the true power of a person. But there are a few side effects, such as mental insanity."

"Does everyone have a soul form?" Magolor asked as he pushed open the door.

"No, in our group, only Drawcia and I have soul forms. In the inferno, your soul comes out in some your raging emotions. It's controllable…to a degree." Marx looked at his own two feet. "I wonder if you have a soul form Magolor."

"Me?" Magolor felt something leap in his throat. He felt nauseous and sick.

"Yeah, Dark Mind says your soul form's name is usually your name with soul added at the end. I always though Marx Soul was kinda cool sounding, you know. But Magolor Soul is kinda weird." Marx looked to the courtyard sky in awe. The star seemed to be swaying.

The feeling became worse for Magolor, his little ears in his hat felt like they were swelling. Whatever was in his throat was tiring even harder to come up. His hands were throbbing and his mittens felt tight. "Marx…" he said weakly. "I feel-"

"Magolor Soul, its kinda…strange."

"Marx!" Magolor screeched in a weak raspy voice. It was becoming harder to breathe. He heard parts of his hat beginning to tear. _What's…What's Happening? Why am I?_

"Yeah, I guess you probably don't have a-"

"MARX!"

"What?" Marx turned to Magolor, whose eyes were now white and his ears or horns (so Marx thought they were) were growing out his hat. The features quickly disappeared and Magolor collapsed.

Marx stepped back."Nightmare! I think Magolor is falling into coma mode again_!" I-I guess he does have a soul form! _He thought to himself_. I thought he was too kind of a heart to have something like that._ _That crown... it can corrupt even innocent souls with just…_ He shuttered. _Raw power!_

* * *

><p>It was the sound of knocking that woke him up. A surprise alright, the young Magolor did not expect anyone during the morning. His parents had already left for work and wouldn't be back until about 10 tonight. Magolor looked around his living room, only a chair, a lamp and a computer. It was all that was offered to his family in exchange for working in the factories. He groaned at the sight of the grey peeling wallpaper around the room. On the other side of the room were the door and a window a little ways away from it with worn, stained, curtain above it.<p>

_I should be grateful_ He thought. _We could be on the streets._ At least he could sleep on a couch (although it was a bit worn.) His parents slept on the hard, steel, ground with only a blanket on top on them. The knocking started up again, Magolor rustled out of his sheets. _Who in the world is that? _He peeped out a window by the door. He could see the neighborhood Halcandran kids whispering and pointing at the door to his home. Someone was here. Already annoyed by their presence he slid the window shades shut. _What do they want? Like they haven't teased me enough when I do play with them!_ He swung open the door.

"I don't want to play with any of you-" Magolor stopped his sentence to find a new face, never seen before in these parts of town. It was a female Halcandran, about maybe 8 or 9. She wore a green bandana around her neck and part of her face. She had no arms but wore brown gloves and had brown feet. She had a golden hat with a green ring pattern where her ears were. Her green eyes stared into Magolor's golden eyes.

"Hello, guess you're not a fan of visitors." She said. "I'm new in these parts and the kids here say you almost never come out, figured I might as well come ask why."

"I…I have more important things to worry about, like getting off of this planet!" The kids in the back began to laugh hysterically at Magolor's response. His eyes began to twitch in anger.

"Shut Up!" She turned around and shouted at them. "Go play baseball or something!" The kids immediately stop laughing and fled the scene. "Anyway, I don't see why you want to try and leave. You can't get off the planet and last long, even if you managed to build a functioning rocket!"

"I'll have my parents with me."Magolor persisted, but he lowered his head. The girl sighed and shook her head.

"What's your name?" she asked

"Magolor."

"Magolor, you're only a kid. Even if you brought food with you, it would run out and you and your parents would resort to eating each other." She slowly pushed up his head. "Why waste your time, just enjoy what little time you have left. You can worry about escape later." She smiled under the scarf.

"Oh…ok." Magolor started to smile under his scarf.

"By the way I'm Aureole." She grabbed his hand and pulled him outside. The rest of his remaining childhood was like heaven. Aureole came to Magolor's door step every morning to wake him up, even when she was sick. The two played catch with her pink ball she had from her toddler days. Magolor even began to play with the other kids more often, he was teased as usual at first, but their respect for him slowly mounted over time. He finally felt like he was living. The computer in his house began to collect dust, but he didn't worry about it. He could sleep better knowing he had little to worry about and almost nothing to lose.

**-End of Chapter 3-**

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note:<strong>

**Finding a good name for the Original Character took forever. Had to go to a few name meaning sites. Anyway, I hope my grammar and spelling got better this time!  
><strong>


	4. Chapter 4: To Flare City!

**-Chapter 4- **

The gusts of wind blew across Magolor's face. He expected to see the dingy wall paper on the ceiling, but instead saw a purple cloud of darkness swirling above him. He sat up and saw he was high in the sky. He sighed, no longer on Halcandra to relive those pleasant memories; Instead in Hell. Magolor turned to his left to see colorful fading scales connected to a golden like wing. His eyes widened, he was amazed at its beauty. _If that's a wing, then who am I laying on? _Magolor tried to turn but whatever he was on began fidgeting, he grabbed on tight.

"Hey! Quit squirming! Can't fly with you jumping around like that!" a familiar high pitch voice started complaining.

"Marx?" Magolor finally looked down to realize he was on Marx's back. His body was much larger now.

"I had to carry you since you almost dropped into another coma. Did you get a good sleep this time?"

"Yeah, much better." Magolor said. He became relaxed at the thought of the tranquility of his childhood. He shut his eyes and could see when he played baseball with the other children. The winds seemed to relax him back into a small nap. "Home…" whispered.

"Hey! Wake up!" Marx shook himself and startled Magolor out his sleep. "You're not in Dreamland anymore you know!"

"Sorry!" Magolor jumped up. "I kinda dozed off there!"

"Marx! Slow down!" a voice called from behind. Marx slowed a little for Dark Mind and the other villains to catch up.

"So you're awake." Nightmare said to Magolor. "You should use the crown to fly and give Marx's back some ease."

"Yeah!" Marx shook violently just as Magolor pulled out the Master Crown. He rustled too much though as Magolor flung off his back; He was screaming as he fell into the pink clouds below. "Whoops. My bad Magolor!" He called out as he fell.

"You idiot! We needed that crown!" Dark Mind pushed Marx a bit.

"Calm down, Magolor knows how to use the crown well." Nightmare assured Dark Mind. They all remained idle in the air for a few moments. Silence. Then a dark dot in the clouds seemed to grow larger before emitting a gaseous like figure. It was Magolor using the crown alright, but the colors of his outfit were now different. The gaseous body trailed off blue on the edges, Magolor's face was black with orange eyes. His scarf was still white, but had a purple belt instead. His jester hat was purple with white on the ends. He slowly emerged up toward the group seeming fatigued. The large golden crown sat atop his hat. Magolor's vision wasn't at his best due to his drowsiness so everyone looked more like colorful shapes, but he could differentiate them. He became slightly irritated as he turned to Marx.

"Surprised that fall didn't wake you up!" Marx giggled. His voice had an echo to it. There was something different about his appearance, but all Magolor's vision could made out was the golden extensions.

"You should think before you shake someone off your back!" Magolor snapped at him. He felt a shock of vibrations in his body as he spoke in his new deep voice. It seemed to wake him up a bit.

"Oh relax! You're high flying in safety now right?" Marx gleefully flapped his wings faster.

"I suppose." Magolor sighed.

"Hmm…I like your new palette Magolor. The colors seem to attract me." Drawcia came a little closer and winked. Magolor was wondering if he was blushing.

"Thank you."

"I prefer your other outfit." Dark Mind said. "May I ask why you had a wardrobe change?"

"It might be the fact that he isn't using the crown at full power." Nightmare responded to the question. "Am I right?"

"I just used the crown to change so I could fly. I didn't really put any effort into it." Magolor fiddled with sun emblems on behind his hands.

Marx remained silent, but his mind, his emotions were churning_. I want that crown so freaking bad… _he fidgeted. _But… he's…he's my…friend._

"Friend?…no…Marx…you don't have friends, you never did…power is the only friend you need. Power almost gave you Pop Star." It was a deep voice, in his mind. No. Deeper inside of him. "But you didn't get it, because you didn't have enough power. You need MORE. That crown has an endless supply of it."

Marx twitched and began to shiver, coldness down his little spine. _No…_

"Yes."

_NO!_

"YES!"

_NO! DAMN IT! SHUT UP! I'll get it….later._

"Flare City is directly below us." Nightmare pointed out below. It broke the conservation Marx was having with…him.

Marx's muscles relaxed, he felt as though he was going to implode or something had that conversation gone any further. The group began to take a nosedive into the clouds, the experience felt great for Magolor and Marx as it eased their inner tensions. It was a minute or so before the clouds vanished and revealed a torched landscape.

It was a city full of explosions. Flames replaced the lights a city would give off at night. They sped by closer into the city, the heat blowing into them. It brought back Magolor's horrific memory of his decent to this cursed place. Burning in white hot flames, just falling. _It's impossible for people to be here!_ He looked down at the streets to find the complete opposite. Demon Dees, and more familiar and unknown creatures roomed the streets; completely ignoring the flames around them! Not every single building was on fire, but it should have been enough for the creatures to notice. The group sped around the corners of streets fast.

"Where are we going Nightmare?" Drawcia asked.

"I sense the location of the key is, there!" He pointed to a bar, the outside a bit tarnished. It was small and had a black sign that said "Hell's Tavern." They all finally settled down in front of it. The door was a bit small for Dark Mind's bulbous body and Marx's rainbow wings. So Dark Mind shrunk himself for the door's size. Marx restored himself to normal.

The burgundy walls were a bit worn and had many holes. There was a rather solemn Demon Dee playing a sad tune on the rosewood piano in the corner. Wooden tables and chairs grouped together with creatures of all sorts sitting, chatting, playing poker or hustling each other down for money. There was a bar area with two dark figures sitting there, watching the bartender, a regular waddle dee cleaning glasses. The lighting was dim on the figures, almost making them black. The group stayed close together as they approached the bar.

"The key is in this dump?" Marx moved closer to Nightmare.

"Yes, if you want to call this place a 'dump.'" Nightmare looked down at his face.

"Hey now, didn't think I'd hear Marx's annoying voice again." One of the figures's turned around. It was a sorcerer alright and he appeared to be made of Yarn. He wore a green sombrero like hat and an orange robe. It had a red and green squiggle pattern on it; his button nose connected the evil toothy grin features on his face. He seemed to be connected to two wooden staffs with eerie scowling faces on them. One with a single spike and the other with two spikes.

"Good to see you too Yin Yarn." Marx said sarcastically, he rolled his eyes.

"Not looking for that key are ya? I wouldn't bother looking here cause it ain't even here!" Yin Yarn said. He turned his attention to Magolor still in his crowned form. "Now would you look here, so your one of Nightmare's new members huh?" He moved close to Magolor's face examining him.

"Uh…you're in my personal space." Magolor moved away, feeling uncomfortable. Yin Yarn chuckled.

"What a wuss! Can't imagine how Kirby beat you! I can't even get close to you without ya getting all finicky. You some kinda joke?" Yin Yarn started cracking insults at Magolor. Wimp, Chicken, pussy cat, weak, frail, amateur, fool. Yin Yarn started getting the whole bar railed up at insulting Magolor and laughing at him.

It started to give Magolor a headache. All these words are what the kids used to call him on Halcandra before they became his friends. It was so bad Magolor could have sworn he was starting to see their faces in the crowd. He was hoping his new allies would back him up, but they turned away in embarrassment. Marx stared at him with a despondent look. He wanted to disappear and knew full and well he had the power to do so. But something was stopping him. _What would going away do? _He said in his mind.

"Nothing, are you really going to be a child and cry?" A voice called out to him. It was his own voice, but it was too sinister to be conscience. Magolor wanted to cry, but he couldn't do that. "I give you limitless power and you don't even use it! Fool! Do something or you'll make me regret not rejecting you when you first picked me up!" It shouted. _Damn Crown…But you're right._ Magolor started to crackle softly. He remembered the research he did on Yin Yarn, the things boredom on Halcandra can do in the long run.

"Says the one who didn't even kill Kirby when he had the chance!" Magolor shot a scowl at Yin Yarn. The crown slowed to silence. "You could have come after Kirby as soon as you sent him to Patch Land. But no, you decided instead you're gonna screw around in Dreamland first. You're careless!" Magolor pointed at him accusingly. "You could have jumped into Patch Land at any time with your magic sock and finished him off when he didn't have a clue how to use the yarn!"

"Uh…Hey! I think you! YOU!" Yin Yarn stared at Magolor silence. He could'nt think of anything else to shut the wizard up, and the wizard wasn't quite done with him yet.

"At least I tricked Kirby into getting me limitless power, and I gave him everything I had! You under estimated Kirby power and turned him into yarn leaving him to FIX Patch land like an idiot!" Now the crowd was laughing at Yin Yarn and Magolor was laughing right with them. Yarn retreated back to his seat in embarrassment. His mouth was shut for the rest of the night. Magolor turned to his allies, who grinned in approval.

"You got brains Magolor…" Dark Mind said, actually impressed. Marx jumped up and down for joy.

"You finally opened your mouth! Can't defend you forever you know, I was expecting you to disappear. You did a pretty dang good job telling him off." Marx's large eyes were gleaming, he was proud of his friend.

Magolor grinned under his scarf. _I didn't need the crown to do that did I?_ He didn't use its power, but it did give him a…harsh pep talk.

"Well spoken, young one." Said a dark voice, the group turned to the purple cloaked figure sitting on the bar stool. His head turned out to be a skull with three eyes sockets. "But words are less than actions. Be sure to keep that in mind."

"Thanks for the advice." Magolor said politely.

"Allow me to introduce myself, I am Necrodeus. I recently almost destroyed Kirby by splitting him into smaller, weaker versions of himself." He turned his head down. "But his conscience had more power than I thought, even in such a weaken state."

"Perhaps," Dark Mind pushed to the front of the group. "You should not have been as careless to let one tiny, little Kirby escape." He said bitterly.

"Perhaps," Necrodeus looked up, red eyes glowing. "You should not have a let a lone clone of the now "greatest warrior in the galaxy." Handle, four full powered Kirbys." He let out a small crackle. "We all have learned Kirby is not a force to be reckoned with."

"And what makes you think you can take on Kirby by yourself in your resurrection." Nightmare asked.

"I won't make the same careless mistake again. Kirby often has his guard down when he is sleeping; no doubt he will fall for the same trick twice." Necrodeus clenched his hands. "But on another note. It's no use for you to go to the guardian, as Yin Yarn and I have defeated already. But the key did not appear!"

"Why do you think we just been sitting here, we don't get it!" Yin Yarn finally got over himself flouted toward the group.

"You only get one shot to fight this guardian; otherwise you can never complete the collection of keys. If done incorrectly, that creature can never try again." Necrodeus held his skull in frustration. "I just don't understand. What was it I did wrong?"

"It's through that cave entrance over there!" Yarn pointed to the cave entrance behind the bartender in the middle of the shelves of glasses.

"You mean it's out in the open and people haven't tried to get it aside from you two?" Marx leaped up on top the counter. Nightmare brushed his chin, and Dark Mind and Drawcia conversed with one another. Magolor flicked his sun emblems in thought.

"Cause either they don't wanna go back up to the surface or they screwed up! Use your head will you!" Yarn tapped Marx upside his head with one of his staffs.

"Hey! Cut that out!" Marx tried to tackle Yarn but he kept the staff on his head.

"Pipsqueak! Never gets old messing with ya!" Yin Yarn chuckled.

"Come along everyone, the cavern awaits." Nightmare teleported himself to the archway, Dark Mind and Drawcia followed his lead. Magolor pulled Marx from under Yarn's staff and carried him with his hand.

"Party Pooper." Yarn muttered under his breath. Magolor turned his head toward Yarn and shot a dirty look at him.

"Oh don't pay any mind to him! Let's just go already." Marx fiddled his feet and Magolor placed him on the ground. "Race ya!" He ran ahead down inside the cavern.

_Ah, Marx. You're just like a little kid._ Magolor slowly moved toward the cavern, not making too much effort to race Marx.

* * *

><p>The golden framed windows bordered the sky outside; there were pink borders on the top and bottom of the hallway. The castle walls were painted in a white of uneven shades, obviously the waddle dees put varying degrees of effort into painting. This would be unacceptable his rule, the masked knight would make sure the punishment for this imperfection would be the equivalent to being hanged. But unfortunately this wasn't his kingdom; Dreamland would be very different country under his rule.<p>

The masked knight was a short, round, blue creature in a grey mask. The eye slit cut in a V fashion to make his yellow eyes look more menacing. He had grey shoulder pads and a purple cape flowing in the back. His stubby feet were lavender and he wore white gloves. By the side, the golden sword handle in a hilt.

He sat in a pink chair by an entrance to a room. He really did not want to be around here, but he felt after the recent betrayal and near failure in defeating Magolor, this action was necessary.

_This world is too careless. _ He pondered. _Its innocence will be its downfall_. He wanted an army for Planet Popstar for years. But time and time again he knew it would be foiled by one creature, Kirby. Every time he thought of taking his battleship Halberd to forcing the lazy residents of dreamland into defense training, Kirby would be there to dismantle his ship in seconds. He did not hate Kirby, but it pissed him off knowing Kirby often stopped his attempt to benefit Pop Star. It even drove him into insomnia for about three years afterward. _Kirby only worries for the people's freedom. _The knight respected that, but he wanted to save the people from themselves. He clenched the handles of the chair. _Where is the King?_

"Sir Meta knight?" A blue bandana covered Waddle Dee peeped out of the doorway. "King Dedede is ready to see you!" Meta knight nodded and hopped off the chair, following the waddle dee in the next room.

The king was combat training with a sandbag. He was a blue penguin with red cap and robe, white, fluffy, trim on the edges. Wielding a large wooden hammer, he knocked the sandbag about. The sandbag was white with two black eyes, unphased by the beating it was taking.

Meta Knight and Bandana Dee entered the arena where the King was training. It like a wresting arena with stone seating around it, a yellow cage was housed above it. The pair slipped under the strings and watched King Dedede enjoying himself.

"You're Majesty!" Bandana Dee called out over his King's grunts and yells. The king stopped pummeling the sandbag.

"What is it?" His amused face faded to an irritated frown. He turned his attention to Meta Knight, now having wrapped his cape around him. "Well now! Meta Knight actually stepped off his ship to see me?" He laughed at his own joke. "You're getting to be less of a rare sight in Dreamland, but here?"

"I have important matters to discuss with you you're majesty." Meta Knight said blankly.

"I guess becoming the greatest warrior in the Gamble Galaxy hasn't curbed your serious demeanor one bit." He smile faded to a more worried look. Not that he was too concerned with Meta Knight's well being.

"Why would it?" He concentrated on King Dedede, his eyes glowed green for a few seconds. "This only means I must train harder to keep my title." The King chuckled at this.

"You mean to tell me that despite, being able to tank through all of Kirby's adventures in less than 10 minutes," Dedede pounded his palm at each detail of this list. "Summing up a whole army, building a battle ship, blowing up your own battleship for training," Dedede cracked up at that last one. "Beating the greatest warrior in the galaxy; freaking Galacta Knight! and being so badass in Super Smash Brothers Brawl that you're top tier and banned from friggin tournaments. You mean to tell me YOUR STILL NOT SATISFIED?" The King was so shocked at the list; he was exhausted just saying it.

"…Somewhat." Meta knight tittered; His eyes took on a pink hue. "I don't know if that last one was exactly a good thing." The King face palmed, Bandana Dee giggled a bit.

"So what do you want now?" Dedede peeped an eye through his glove. Meta Knight's eyes quickly reverted yellow.

"I'm going to build a vast army; I request that your waddle dee army merge with mine." Meta Knight locked his eyes at King Dedede who jumped back at the request. Bandana Dee also jumped in shock.

"You…you want my army to merge with your knights?" Dedede began to laugh hysterically. But Meta Knight remained concentrated on Dedede, looking for an answer. "I mean, your army is superior and there not even any wars or anything like that going on. I gotta say that request is a bit low for you." Dedede wiped his smile clean off his face at that sentence, an expression of panic replaced it; He may have just offended the masked knight. While he was a king, he knew Meta Knight was one of the last people he wanted to be on bad ends with. "Uh…sorry about that last part."

"It's alright." Meta Knight turned away for a moment. He felt his inner anger cringe as his eyes took a deep orange tint. He did not want to intimidate the ill-mannered king to get his true motive across. But although he was a serious knight, it didn't mean that he had no feelings. "Do you remember our issue with Magolor recently?"

"Yeah, we beat him. What's your point?" King Dedede was confused.

"Just barely, we had two failed attempts at defeating him. First when we subdued his ship, the Lor Starcutter, he shot us off Landia's back. Had there been no platform below, we would have died. Second, after we defeated his sorcerer form. He gained a soul form that almost defeated us."

"So…your point?" Dedede started to look bored.

"My point… is that Pop Star needs more protection, should something happen to Kirby or any of us standing here." Meta Knight turned back to Dedede. "It is defenseless and we won't be here forever you're majesty."

"Gotta point there…" The King stared at his toes in thought.

"I had been planning and trying for years to assemble an army, no volunteers came after my knights. I knew no else would, so I figured building the Halberd and forcefully training the inhabitants for the worst was the only other option." He stared at the ground. "But Kirby thought I was trying to become a dictator and stopped me. I only wanted what was best."

"Kirby is so impulsive at times." Bandana Dee sighed. "It's the only thing I don't like about him."

"But I just couldn't give up there, the onslaught of attacks got worse. Remember Drawcia turning the world to Paint! As if I already wasn't worried of Nightmare's return or Zero invading the world again for the third time! So I rebuilt and then modified the Halbred after the Dark Nebula crisis and set up the Helper to Hero tournaments to find suitable soldiers for my army years prior." Meta knight looked to the ceiling. "After years doing tournaments, I finally planned out what creatures would go in what ranks of my army, just as I finished the Halberd modifications." He turned to Dedede; the masked knight became more anxious "Then Magolor's whole incident came a little while before I was coming for my request. I need all the help I can get in other areas of my plans and training."

"Well…" King Dedede took a moment to take everything in. "Alright we can merge, one condition," a grin appeared on his face. "I get a high rank in the army like general or something. Surprised you're asking me though, figured you had enough leadership skills to do this yourself."

"Yes, but lately I have been uneasy. My insomnia is returning, and it's hindering my concentration. The few times I am able to sleep I am pestered by nightmares." Meta knight began to tremble, he became light headed. "Sights of the villains, all of them, returning…wreaking havoc…all at once…"

"But Sir Meta Knight, they were soundly defeated by Kirby, weren't they?" Bandana asked

"Yes, but do you remember Marx?" He responded as the room stopped swaying.

"All too well, he almost took over Pop Star with the Great Comet NOVA!"

"During your True Arena years ago, you're majesty, there was a surprise opponent for Kirby at the end. Do you know who that was?" the knight turned to Dedede.

"No, didn't pay any attention." The king shook his head. "Apparently he or it signed up at the last minute. One of my Dees told me it was some monster that was disturbingly familiar."

"It was Marx. He had returned, in his soul form. He was revived by a piece of Nova after he crashed into it."

"But he was beaten right?"

"Yes, that doesn't mean he nor any of the others cannot return." The knight looked down. "In the inferno, there is a gate back to this world that can be opened if all the keys for it are collected. While the trials are supposed to trigger a change of heart, there is no guarantee people will change." The king and his waddle dee assistant trembled with fear on their faces.

"So in Hell….they CAN COME BACK?" The king gasped.

"Yes, the trials are difficult, but if my dreams are giving off a horrid omen, they may be returning soon. Maybe not all of them, but surely the most troublesome ones. You're Majesty, please, I only ask to assemble your army." He turned away to the exit. "I will be waiting in front of the castle with the Halberd." He left them behind. The King looked at the ceiling, were his days numbered?

_The last thing I wanted is to be possessed by Dark Matter for the fourth time!_ The King walked in circles thinking.

"I…I think we should go King Dedede sir." Bandana Dee turned to him. "We have to do something! O-or it will be the end of the world as we know it!" The king looked at him with apprehension and concern on his face.

Meta Knight stood outside the castle on Mount Dedede, his battleship high above. He stared out into the clouds, that was all he could see.

_To let Zero take the happiness out of Pop Star …_ He pondered, as his eyes turned red. _To let Marx do all the sadistic "jokes" he wants to everyone. To let Nightmare give endless horrific dreams to everyone, every night. To let Drawcia turn the world into her own canvas, to do what she likes against everyone's will. To let Dark mind spread his evil into both the mirror world and Pop Star, corrupting everything._ The Knight trembled. _To let Magolor control the entire universe with the limitless power of the Master Crown. This world, this galaxy, this universe will become a place far worse than the flames of hell. _

"A living hell of nothing but pain and sorrow, where death is a godsend…" He spoke in his deep voice, it echoed across the clouds, despite how low he said it.

**-End of Chapter 4-**

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note<strong>

**Meta knight's eyes changing colors is actually an element from the anime. But I thought it would be more fun to express his emotions that way. Hope it doesn't bother anyone!  
><strong>


	5. Chapter 5: The First Key

**-Chapter 5-**

The cave took on a bluish tint as the group of villains traveled deeper. A bluish haze began to clog their sight and their lungs. It became narrow, only illuminated by the fireballs flouting on the walls. Nightmare led the front of the pack with confidence, Dark Mind following behind with eagerness. Drawcia was humming a small tune, studying the details of the cave. She felt something snuggle underneath her, she look straight down to see Marx gleefully skipping down ahead of the group. She had never seen him so happy.

"Don't run too far ahead Marx!" Drawcia called out to him. Marx turned with huge gleaming eyes; such joy startled the other villains.

"Why the hell are you so happy? This is serious!" Dark Mind snapped. But Marx's joyous look did not budge, he simply giggled.

"Where's Magolor?" Just as these words were said, the Halcandran was seen slowly trailing behind the group. He looked fatigued, as though he woke up from a nightmare. He held the Master Crown in front of him.

"Is there something wrong Magolor?" Nightmare turned to him. Magolor slowly looked up, a hopeless look on his face.

"Yeah, but I'm fine."

"No you're not." Marx's eyes had stopped gleaming. He crouched under the villains and walked beside Magolor as they continued their journey. "Did the crown give you another nightmare or something?"

"Sort of, it was more of bad memories… of home." He looked down.

"Bad memories of home? I hear ya there. I hated Pop Star, everyone was too innocent. You how many times that place got invaded? Plenty! No one would do a dang thing about it! It's only that cream puff Kirby that actually saved everyone. I hate him, but I'll give the puffball that." Marx and Magolor cringed at the name. Marx started to feel his internal Temperature rise. "Hadn't been for Kirby though, I would have at least done something about it with my power. Well, after playing all my vengeance jokes on the people I hated the most."

"My home is actually a fate worse than here. I was in a factory with no safety precautions. You just work and work every day, you get meals that suck and only 5 hours of sleep. Whither you wanted to use that as leisure time was you're choice, but you ended up paying for it with fatigue later on. No vacation days either, you got sick you had to deal with it. The only way you got fired was through death." Magolor was trying hard to hold back tears. "Saw a lot of people kill themselves."

"Oh…I uh, sorry never really heard of that kind of torture, it's a little hard for me to relate." Marx lowered his head. First time in his life he actually felt sorry for someone, and this is his afterlife so that says a lot.

"You're opening up too much." The dark voice called within. "Since when do you feel pity? You know better than to show your weak side." It scolded Marx.

_Since when did you start talking to me so much? HNM? _Marx clenched his eyes.

"Since you started stepping out of line! I don't give a damn about his story right now!" It demanded.

_Stepping out of line? You're not the boss of me!_

"You should be thinking of a plan to get the Master Crown!"

_Listen, if you don't shut the hell up about that crown-_

"Marx? You ok?" Magolor broke into Marx's conversation with that internal voice.

"Yeah! I'm just fine!" Marx looked to Magolor in relief. "Just fine…"

"Look!" Drawcia exclaimed. They had reached a stone stair case that spiraled downward below about 50 feet or so was blue stone ground with a raised platform.

"The guardian is down there. Be cautious- Marx!" Nightmare was pushed aside by Marx running ahead. The others followed. Magolor felt a deep chill as he followed on, he was suffering from apprehension.

_Necrodeus said he defeated the guardian, but the key didn't appear. Neither did Yin Yarn get it. So what's the catch? It's over if we screw up!_ They reached the bottom, much like the cave interior above, but there was a raised platform with shrouding cloud of darkness. Two yellow, beady eyes peeped out from it.

"That's…the guardian?" Marx burst into laughter. "You gotta be kidding me!"

"Stop laughing! if Necrodeus and Yin Yarn didn't beat this…thing. It must a formidable foe!" Dark Mind emitted dark star projectiles at it from his eye. The impacts made yellow explosions on contact with the cloud. Dust lingered through the air, it cleared slowly. The dark cloud still remained, slightly bruised by it.

"What was that? It didn't do anything!" Marx jumped up and down in frustration.

"Shut Up!"Dark Mind shouted. The fireball emitted mirrors around its self and prepared to launch itself at the cloud.

"Dark Mind! Heed Necrodeus's account of this battle, there must be another way to obtain the key!" Nightmare called out to him. Mind shattered the mirrors. Drawcia created a paintbrush, preparing to defend herself. Magolor stood behind them both, clenching the crown, ready to place it on for his defense as well.

"What can possibly be better than killing it?" Mind turned to Nightmare. Marx turned back to the creature but it was no longer a cloud of darkness. It became a hideous pink blob with flaps everywhere. A big gapping mouth full of drool and two blue beady eyes.

"Kirby?" Marx's temper rose, it may have been a distorted image of Kirby but it still brought back painful memories. "You bastard…" His Jester hat stood on straight up as he grew larger. Fangs grew out of his mouth and golden crystal wings emitted at his sides. The rainbow scales faded in and out of existence.

"Marx! Didn't you hear Nightmare? Stand down!" Dark Mind shouted at him.

"It's Kirby! Can't you see? Are you blind?"

"Fool! It's still that same cloud of darkness as before!" Mind's fiery aura blazed with anger. Marx continued to ignore him.

"It's not Kirby…its" Drawcia took a closer look, her eye shrunk with fear.

"It's what?" Magolor stepped away from her. He could still see darkness as a blob, but the eyes grew into vertical ovals. _Like Halcandran eyes._ He thought of his own golden eyes.

"It's…it's… like my creator!" Drawcia trembled; Magolor could those five eyes appearing. She seemed to be expanding as she was hyperventilating.

_N-Not her soul form, I don't want to know what that looks like in its entirety!_ But Magolor didn't have choice in the matter. Drawcia's clothes began to tear with different colored liquids seeping through them. The yellow gaping mouth tore through her purple scarf. There was a toxic smell in the air. _Paint?_

"…I hate…I HATE YOU!" She exploded into rainbow paint flying everywhere. It tossed Magolor against the wall, covering him in pink and red paint as he faded out of consciousness. The explosion finally got the villains attention, splattering them in paint, annoying them as well.

"GROSS!" Marx shrieked

"Damn it Drawcia, mind where you aim your-" Dark Mind stopped his sentence, his eye opened wide. Instead of colorful sorceress they knew. A giant, rainbow striped paint ball flouted in her place, dripping paint on the blue ground. Five yellow eyes lined up on top a large yellow mouth.

"So this is Drawcia Soul in its complete form, unfortunately this is horrible a time to see such a…interesting sight." Nightmare turned Dark Mind, who still stared at their ally's awful new form. Marx searched the room for Magolor, who had been awfully quiet since the battle begun; he did not pay too much mind to Drawcia. The paint splatters in the cave made it difficult to find Magolor though.

"CREATOR!" Her voice became a pixelated shriek, that hurt the others ears. The rushing orb made a dash for the cloud of darkness. Marx yelped and teleported out of Drawcia's way

"No!" Dark Mind created a large mirror in front of the cloud. Drawcia crashed into it; huge cracks crept up the mirror shield from the crash site. Drawcia retreated a bit, dazed. The mirror was still intact, but it wouldn't survive another hit. Nightmare quickly sent a large star to trap Drawcia Soul in a barrier, preventing her escape. Dark Mind assisted by making a mirror diamond casing around the barrier. Drawcia recovered, and in a fit of rage, began throwing herself around inside the barrier. Thankfully the seals muffled her shrieks of rage a bit.

"This won't hold her forever!" Dark Mind said.

"It seems the cloud is making illusions of things we hate or fear to tempt us to destroy it." Nightmare brushed his chin in thought. "Cunning, But why can we see nothing?"

"I would worry about how we can get the key? You think talking to it will work?" Marx came to the other two. "If so, you guys go talk to it, that façade of Kirby is bothering the heck out of me!"

"…it seems to be idle. But even so we have Drawcia's mindless frenzy to worry about." Nightmare said Pointing to the mad orb bouncing around in the seals. They were cracking.

"Well we need to hurry up and do something before-"

"Behind you!" Dark Mind interrupted and both he and Nightmare teleported from sight.

"Really? I wasn't even done talking yet…huh?" Marx turned to the pink blob, now sprouting black tentacles. Sparking with electricity, the tentacles starting reaching toward Marx at an incredible speed. It was only seconds before they would reach him. He closed his eyes, he felt enough pain in his life, he could just troop this out. But what if he didn't, it would be flames forever. He trembled in fear. _Here goes._

"MARX!" a booming voice called out. Marx opened his eyes to see a red and blue cloud in front of him.

"Magolor!" Marx grinned. Relived his friend had saved him. Magolor was in his low powered wizard state, probably due to his fatigue and stress. He conjured a purple star shaped shield, protecting them from the angry black tentacles swatting against it. A piece of the shield broke off.

"GO!" Magolor shouted to him, stress on his face from holding the shield. His arms were shaking. Marx teleported away to where the seals on Drawcia were placed, Dark Mind and Nightmare stood around. They watched Magolor struggle, as pieces of the star shield kept chipping away.

_I…I can't hold on! The shield is weakening!_ He was just waiting for the whole thing to disappear. Just a little tip of the star left… then the pain shot through him like lightning struck into his chest. He made a long, deep, painful moan that echoed through the entire cave. The sensation lasted for seconds…long seconds. The pain was intense; he couldn't even open his eyes to see Marx and others. This reminded him of when Kirby destroyed him with his Ultra Sword. Exploding, it was like burning and popping at the same time, he just wanted this to end. If death was going to take him a second time, he wanted it to take him fast. Even the flames had to be better than this. His comrades watched in pity, as the tentacles pulled Magolor inside the cloud; To Marx it was like the monster Kirby was eating him alive. Marx looked as though he would fall to tears, he was going to lose his only friend, and there was nothing he could do.

The darkness in his closed eyes turned to a light grey. The agony, the sensation, it was…fading? The cracking of the electric tentacles was muffled.

"Traveler?" a voice called, it was cold and yet it had a hint of sorrow. "Why did you come to obtain these keys…with your allies?"

"I…I have unfinished business on surface." Magolor's voice had returned to its squeaky high pitch. He didn't feel strong anymore, especially since he was at the cloud's mercy.

The voice snickered. "You'll have to give a better reason than that to get this key." Magolor sighed.

"To get revenge on someone that-"

"Killed you?" The voice was expecting this answer, just like the ones before Magolor.

"No, not really. I want revenge on the soulless monster that made my people's life a living hell." There was silence.

"So you're not really with them to defeat Kirby as part of vengeance? He killed you and ruined your plans!" The voice was a tad confused.

"No, well yeah but he is more on a side note." Magolor can feel a mixture of aggravation and guilt inside him. He wished the voice would just stop talking to him. He wanted to pay Kirby back for sending him here to all this pain and suffering. And yet Kirby only wanted to help rebuild his ship so Magolor could go home. Kirby wasn't expecting it to turn to a world saving mission due to Magolor's own...ulterior motives.

"Then why work with them? You don't care so much of Kirby and they want to destroy Kirby. They want to take over all worlds. You don't think they will just take over your world as well? Then you're people will fall to even worse tyrants. And one of those tyrants could be you…"

"What do you mean? I would never do-"

"Not you," The voice continued. "But that crown…it has a firm grip on you, even more control over you than you realize. Power corrupts child."

"I'm not that young." Magolor said curtly

"18 years isn't old at all in my eyes. You're youth also makes you more susceptible to corruption as you're still growing, still learning, still developing." The voice's wise words touched Magolor deep. "Influences can still be pretty deep. Keep all this in mind, once you return to the surface, you only get one second shot." The voice said. Magolor frowned.

The room faded back to black. Magolor felt power surging back into his body, something cold was spreading out underneath him. Light seep through the dark, the blue caves became visible. He looked at his hands, gloves with sun emblems at the wrists. But there was something in his right hand, a grey key with sharp horns on top of the hole. He got the key, something not many were able to do and he was alive! But it felt bittersweet. Only one of five keys, On top of that, what the voice had said bothered him.

"Magolor!" Marx came running to him, he was in his normal form, and tears flew out from his eyes as he scrambled to Magolor. He stopped short when he realized the key was in his hand. The other villains came behind him and stopped and stared at Magolor.

"Well Done Magolor!" Nightmare clapped his hands. Magolor turned to Drawcia who seemed calm and back to her normal sorceress form.

"I thought…I thought you were dead! and…and." Marx was breathing heavy, like he woke up in his mother's arms from a hellish dream. The dark voice inside him was screeching in disapproval, but if it was in full form in front of Marx and he had hands, he would flip it off.

Magolor looked at Marx and smiled. He took off the master crown and reverted to his normal Halcandran self. It felt good to feel his white cape flowing behind him; he stepped close to Marx. He wanted to hug him, but…something was stopping him, he felt now wasn't the time; or at least not in front of the others. He simply patted him on the head, Marx looked up and smiled.

"Well I think we should be heading up! To the surface everyone!" Dark Mind said quickly.

* * *

><p>They returned to the tavern as they left it. Magolor gave the key to Nightmare for safe keeping. Necrodeus and Yin Yarn looked back from their stools, Yin Yarn made an evil grin.<p>

"So did you get it? Or was failure at ya doorstep?" He snickered.

"Actually success was at our door step, Yarn." Nightmare flashed the key for the two villains to see. They were shocked at the villain's feat.

"But-But you guys cheated!" Yin Yarn made excuses as to how they got it.

"Guess who got it for us?" Marx nudged Magolor playfully. Magolor giggled as he held out the crown.

"You? Wait a minute…YOU?" Yin Yarn fidgeted as he saw the wizard's true form.

Magolor smirked in an evil fashion. "Problem?" Yarn was fuming. Necrodeus stood up.

"Impressive, But you do realize this means legit war." Necrodeus flashed a key similar to the one Nightmare has, only a light shade of blue. "We should organize a meeting later, to discuss things."

"Yeah, I got things to' discuss', so I'll be there." Yin Yarn chimed in. "It's gonna be fun teaching you cheaters a lesson!"

"We accept your challenge." Nightmare said triumphantly. Yin Yarn and Necrodeus both disappeared from the scene in a flash of light. The group went outside of the Hell's Tavern. Flare City was ablaze as usual. Dense Smoke filled the air, Marx coughed a bit.

"I think we should go home. Take a break, then go to the whatever it is...meeting." Marx yawned.

"And I think you and Magolor should stay there and leave us to go to the meeting." Dark Mind turned to Marx and then gazed at Magolor. Something odd was happening to him, the crown in his hand was glowing red.

"What do you mean? I'm not missing the action!" Marx leaped up and down.

"Magolor should rest, he looks incredibly tired." Nightmare stared at Magolor with slight concern. Magolor was pretty tired alright; there were black circles around his gold eyes. His cone ears were tilted downward and his head hung down as though he would sleep standing up. He looked as limp as a deflated balloon. Marx turned to see his weak friend.

"Whoa! You didn't look like that a minute ago!" Marx was puzzled; he sensed the crown's energy getting stronger. It was sending sleep waves into Magolor; this was probably why he was fatigued earlier.

"I…I know…I just feel… so tired all of a sudden." Magolor slowly lifted his head. "Maybe I strained myself too much." He said exhausted.

"If you did, you would have felt it sooner." Drawcia pointed out.

_So you want me to get the crown and it's gonna be doing stuff like that to me? You're really desperate for power aren't you?_ Marx thought, waiting for the dark voice's reply. Nothing. _You don't even care…_

"Come along you two!" Drawcia called down. The other villains already started to lift to the sky.

"Ughhh, I really…" Magolor was swaying.

"Hey, easy, I'll give you a ride." Marx said as Magolor started to fall over. Marx stood in front of him, letting Magolor fall on his back. He extended his golden wings. "Just relax aright?" He didn't expect an answer; in fact all he heard was snoring after that. "He passes out way too much!" Marx giggled to himself.

* * *

><p>He heard two knocks on the door, one of his eyes snapped open. Magolor lifted himself off the worn couch.<p>

_Aureole is here!_ He rushed to the door, another day of fun. He liked playing with his new friends, the feeling of joy. It always felt so new to him, even after 2 years.

When he swung open the door however, there were two older Halcandrans there instead. Both wore grey clothes, they had limbs but they were stubby. A grey hat sat on their heads. There sorrowful yellow eyes stared at Magolor. The one to the left had a long grey beard.

"C-can I help you?" Magolor trembled; it was unlike grownups to stand at his door step.

"Yes, you are Magolor right? My name is Charles. I…I am a friend of your father." The one Halcandran to the left lowered his head. "There was a terrible accident at the engines last night, and I hate to be the bearer of bad news." A tear formed in his eye. "Both your parents were killed in an explosion, yours and many others."

"What?" Magolor squeaked. He felt as though a dagger went through his chest. His parents…dead? Unthinkable at his age! He stepped back. "No…you're kidding, please tell me you're kidding!"

"We aren't." The right one stepped aside, revealing all the children in Magolor's neighborhood leaving. Some crying, some hysterical with insanity,but all of them heading in the direction of the factories.

"I'm sorry child; the head of the factory wants all children to come as replacements. I'm afraid you have no choice, I'm so sorry!" The bearded one buried his head in his gloves.

_No…not now! Please not now! I'm too young! This…this is madness! _Magolor clenched his head.

"Magolor…" a familiar voice peeped behind the two men. They turned to see Aureole; her gloves were soaked from tears. Her parents were dead too. "Please, let me walk him, I'm a close friend." Her voice trembled. The two men nodded and left. She walked up Magolor and grabbed his hand. Their childhood was over, years too early.

The factories were a dull shade of grey. The children could see all sorts of pistons, conveyor belts, and gears, all with tired Halcandrans working for them. They were all huddled together, frightened. Magolor and Aureole were in the front. This was where their parents were blown to smithereens, this was last place they wanted to be. They stopped in a room full of pistons, they wanted to turn and run but there were robotic guards forcing them forward.

A large piston fell from the ceiling on top of it was a blue robot. It was short, and looked quite a bit like a shark. With boot like feet, a dark blue paint job with yellow, emotionless eyes. Instead of a left arm, it had some type of weapon.

"Welcome, to your new home children. I am the Metal General, forget my name and the punishment shall be…extreme." The robotic emotionless voice spoke out to them. "You will all work hard here in your parents place to better these factories."

"Better this dump? Yeah right! I would rather die in a rotten ditch than work for you!" It was a gruff voice. Too familiar to Magolor.

_Gent?_ He turned to see a brown halcandran with no arms but large hands and feet. He wore an orange bandana around his face covering all but his grey eyes on his brown face, filled with anger. This kid teased Magolor the most of the group, and warmed up to him the slowest. But they did become good friends eventually.

"My parents never wanted me here at all! You can't make me or any of us work here. We will fend for ourselves right?" he turned to the other kids but most looked away. Aureole stared hard at him.

"Gent, just get back and take back what you said!"

"No! I'm not taking back-" Two halcandran robots grabbed him and turned him toward the general. The piston was lifted slightly off of the ground. "Lemmie go!" He struggled but it was no use.

"If you don't want to be here, then I will grant your wish." The General said. The two robots tossed the boy under the piston, it slowly began to fall. The kids were screaming now, some for their parents and others for Gent to be saved. He looked up to see the piston's underside just two feet above his head.

"No! Gent! Dear god! Don't kill him please!" Tears fell out of Aureole's eyes. She wanted to save him but her feet wouldn't move. The Metal General had his eyes locked onto hers, freezing her in fear. Magolor was trembling, he just wanted to disappear, but knew he didn't have the power to do it. Aureole grabbed Magolor and held him tight. She knew he was afraid.

The piston touched Gent's face, he closed his eyes. Loud blood curdling screams mixed with the pleads of the children. They became louder and louder. Bones cracked; Gent could be heard gurgling now instead of screaming. The pool of blood reached Aureole's feet, her eyes widened. Magolor stood lifeless at the gruesome sight. The piston crushed the remains completely; Gent's crushed corpse could now no longer be seen.

_MAKE IT STOP! PLEASE!_ Magolor howled in his mind. _JUST LET ME GO HOME!_ The flashback shattered to pieces, darkness enveloped his sight. Magolor still had his hands to his face, just crying. Something began to warp around him, cold and solid.

"Stop crying, it is alright Magolor, you're not there anymore." A deep voice called out.

"Who are you?" Magolor called out.

"Just relax, be silent, I'll make your sorrow go away, I'll make the pain subside, just relax." The silver tentacle began pulling Magolor lower and lower.

"What are you doing? Stop it! Let go of me!"

"Relax child, I have a strong grip of you, don't resist me."

"Let go of me! Damn you!" But it was no use. It pulled the Halcandran closer to purple whirlpool of darkness below. Magolor screamed for help as the purple cloud covered his body. He was failing his arms at the darkness for light. But nothing came for him.

**-End of Chapter 5-**

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><p><strong>Author's note:<strong>

**I'm beginning to wonder if I made this flashback a little too dark. This chapter also had my first action scene and I had quite a bit of trouble writing it. But playing action and boss music from video games really helps!  
><strong>


	6. Chapter 6: Home Invasion

**Chapter 6**

Marx popped open an eye at the sudden screaming. He was pretty exhausted from carrying Magolor from Flare City, and now Magolor was waking him out of his beauty sleep. He lifted himself off of his green, white polka dot sheets. His room was sky blue with a few beach balls of different sizes scattered across the red carpet. The balls slowly shifted into places, one after the other into a path that lead to the door to the hallway. Marx bounced across each one giggling as he jumped. As fell to the ground from the last one, the balls dispersed. He ran quickly down the violet, brick, hallway. The screams echoed and became louder.

He slowed down toward the end where a white door stood, he found the source and it was giving him a serious headache. He pushed the door with his forehead, muttering to himself how easy this would have been if he had arms. The room was pure white, and aside from a bed it was pretty bare. One window with purple curtains was giving off a good view of the courtyard. Under the violet sheets was Magolor, tossing and turning violently in the bed. Marx groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Magolor?" Marx stood on his tiptoes to stare at Magolor who continued to toss and turn. "Hey! Wake up!" He jumped up and head butted Magolor at the perfect time to hit his face. Magolor stop turned and groaned, he rubbed his eyes and blinked them a few times. He sighed relived the nightmare was over.

"Marx?" Magolor looked over his bed to see Marx on the ground. "Are you ok?" He got off the bed and helped Marx back on his feet.

"Thanks…another nightmare?" He looked up to Magolor.

"Yeah, they just keep getting worse! This time it actually seemed more like a memory of mine!"

"Memory of what?" Marx asked. Magolor sighed.

"When I first got into the factories… I wasn't supposed to go until I was 13, but a factory accident killed my parents and I had to work to keep my home. It was run by this robot called Metal General, a tyrant who worked us almost to death. Since his factory was the only real business in the city, he pretty much ran the entire place. I heard he was made by the original head of the factory to replace him after his death. He rarely let us produce anything aside from war material. They're wasn't even a war going on, or so I thought." Magolor responded.

"What do you mean?" Marx smirked, he was getting interested.

"Metal General had his enemies who tried to overthrow him. Mostly gangs, but I hear they were pretty organized and actually stood as a threat to him. So during our break hours, sometimes we would hear explosions going off from fights. Last I heard the rebels were losing; that crazy robot takes them on by himself!"

"So…how did you get out?"

"By luck when I was working the computers, I overheard workers talking about the Master Crown and the Lor Starcutter, a massive ship. They were guarded Landia, atop the highest volcano in Halcandra. I also heard Metal General was going to use those war materials fight Landia to get them. He was also going to turn the workers of the factories into soldiers to help him! So I decided I would ask the general for a crane so I could fish out the Lor from the volcano and beat the general with it, he didn't know about my plan of course. Metal General made me work overtime for that crane, but he finally gave it to me after 7 months."

"Seven months?"

"Patience was everything. I was dirt tired, but I got the crane and went and fished out the funny part was that place was deserted, no Landia or anything, guess she was asleep. I took the ship to an abandon warehouse and made some serious upgrades to it. Once I was done, I took it for a spin! But then Landia found and attacked me!"

"And then what? Come on tell me! Tell me!" Marx began bouncing up and down. Magolor giggled a little.

" I figured I could beat Landia instead and get the Master Crown so that there was no way the General could beat me! But Landia was too strong for the ship, so I had to set the Lor to go to the nearest habitable planet….Planet Popstar." Magolor let out a sigh "…the rest I'll tell another time Marx."

"That was awesome! Too bad you lost to Landia though!" Marx giggled a bit. Magolor smiled at his friend under his scarf. "Any way…we're home alone. The others went to Necrodeus's 'meeting.'"

The ground began to shake, dust fell from the ceiling of the room. Marx leaped toward the window. Outside in the courtyard was a whole army of yarn creatures, all rushing toward the mansion. Above the army toward the back, YinYarn can be seen with an evil grin on his face.

"Don't let up boys! Keep em' coming!" He chuckled.

"Aw great! I can't believe this guy, dang liar! He said he was going to Necrodeus's meeting!" Marx jumped up and down in frustration. "Nightmare entrusted me with the key!"

"Then we gotta defend the key and the mansion don't we?" Magolor pulled the crown out with a serious expression.

"True, I don't want Dark Mind yelling down my ears about the key gone and the mansion destroyed too." Marx extended his golden crystal wings. He showed a bright smile, though his large eyes made it come off as a bit creepy. "Come on! Lets' go greet our guess at the door!"

* * *

><p>The yarn army burst through the foyer doors, there were all sort of a yarn knitted waddle dees, horned creatures, some with wings and some looked like toy soldiers. It was about 100 of them or so creeping slowly inside. Yin Yarn flouted above the group, looking around suspiciously.<p>

"It's quiet, too quiet!" Yarn's voice echoed throughout the foyer.

"Boss, shouldn't we be quiet then…" one yarn toy soldier said.

"Shut up! I know that, just trying to er…break the silence" Yarn lowered down toward the soldier's face "Just don't talk for da rest of your lowly life!" The soldier gained a fearful expression on his face and nodded. Suddenly a childish giggle could be heard.

"Greetings Yin Yarn! I see your treating your creations like trash as usual." It spoke in a high pitched voice. Yarn and his army looked around, but there was no one in sight.

The ground began to rustle, from underneath the floor where Yarn's troops stood, Marx burst from the ground, knocking over half the army. He flew to the ceiling and stared down at Yarn's shattered and disoriented army. Marx swoop down at an incredible speed pushing the soldiers who made futile efforts to stab him with their spears.

"Stop him! Stop him you idiots!" Yarn shouted at the wounded soldiers, some of them were torn to yarn ribbons. Marx stopped in front of Yarn, a form of satisfaction on his face.

"Impressed?" he asked

"Got some nerve Marx!" Yin Yarn scowled at him.

"You got some nerve coming here uninvited!" a booming voice echoed from behind him. Red spheres rammed into Yarn's back, he waved his two staffs in pain and turned to see Magolor's sorcerer form. He was in his red, white, and black outfit, signaling Magolor was using the crown at full power.

"You! You're that jerk who humiliated me at the bar, I'm gonna stitch you inside out for that!" Yarn moved a bit closer to him, fuming.

"You started it, what are you doing here?"

"I was just gonna see if Nightmare was dumb enough to leave the key here!" Yarn pointed Marx. "And I sense it…its' on you isn't it? Hand it over!"

"No!" Marx spread out his wings and released razor blades in Yarn's direction. But Yarn swiftly evaded them and started knitting drills and shot them at Marx.

Marx was only able to evade a few, since there was so many coming at him. Despite being made of Yarn, they felt like real ones made of steel!

"Bastard!" Marx squealed in pain, he opened out his wings. From thin air came blue arrows, an endless amount started heading for Yarn at incredible speeds. The arrows glistened and created terrible shredding sounds as they pierced Yin Yarn's fabric body. When the onslaught was done, Yin Yarn had more holes than Swiss cheese, but he was able to remedy that with his staffs, quickly stitching himself back to normal.

"You're gonna have to do better than that, pipsqueak!" He taunted Marx, who was shooting him death glares. "Hey get off the ground, lazy bums! Help me out here!" He yelled at his wounded fabric soldiers toward the ground. They looked up at their master with hopeless expressions.

Then Yarn felt like something was pulling him, harder like a vacuum. When he turned, he saw a black star, swirling with wind like a black hole…and it was pulling him and his soldiers inside Magolor can be heard chuckling behind it. Marx took advantage of this and disappeared.

Yin Yarn stabbed the marble ground with his staffs, his fabric body flapping against the wind. The soldiers whizzing passed him into the oblivion of the hole. The suction was getting worse, now his body felt pulled like it was going to tear in half at any second.

And like that, the wind ceased. Yarn felt relived the vacuum stopped inhaling, but what happened? He turned but no one was there. There was silence, only small bubbling sounds. Wait...bubbling sounds? Yin Yarn looked down to see a green portal underneath him. It was small and boiling.

"What the-"The portal shot a giant, jagged, spiked thorn going straight through Yin Yarn. He shrilled in agonizing pain. The thorn stuck right through the middle of his body, before retreating as the hole disappeared. In front of him a star shaped portal appeared, Magolor came out of it, grinning.

"Are you done?"

"Not quite, wizard boy. I'll have you in my knitting needles in a second!" Yin Yarn made a swift movement behind Magolor. By the Magolor turned around however, Yarn was gone, but a large green dragon had taken his place. Yarn was moving at great speeds creating yarn dragons all around the room. Magolor fell into a state of internal panic, but tried hard to keep his cool on the surface. They surrounded him, about five of them. Yin Yarn flouted in the middle of the group, satisfaction on his face.

"Now while I would say its' been nice know ya, It hasn't! So long wizard, gotta go get that key!" Yarn's chuckles echoed as he faded away. Magolor was left alone to deal with five dragons in a small room. He readied his star shield, now gold and more pointed. The dragon prepared to exhale fire.

_Run as far as you can Marx!_ He figured this might be the end of him.

* * *

><p>Marx reappeared in one of the hallways of the mansion. He felt horrible for leaving Magolor with Yin Yarn. But he needed to protect the key! A laugh was heard, and in front of him appeared Yin Yarn.<p>

"Hey pipsqueak! Now about that key-"

"WHAT DID YOU DO WITH MAGOLOR?" Marx's voice became deeper and more menacing. His wings took a dark orange tint. His lavender skin darkened in color.

"Relax will ya, he's playing with my fire dragons!" Yarn snickered.

"Damn you!" Marx began breathing heavy, gritting his fangs. Even Yarn had become a little intimidated by this.

"Since when did you care about anyone!" Yarn frowned "You specifically told me you don't give a dang what happens to anyone but yourself and that you didn't need any friends! Getting soft on me Marx?"

"You are getting so damn ANNOYING!" Marx let out a large white beam from his mouth in his frustration. Yin Yarn barley had enough time to dodge it. The beam destroyed every vase or table unlucky enough to be in its path. Yarn was pressed against the wall, unhurt from the beam, but now realizing he is having the fight of his life. This is an even worse fate than fighting Kirby and Prince Fluff.

The smoke cleared and there was Marx, sitting on the ground with wings still extended. He was trembling and hyperventilating, a red aura surrounded him like fire. His eyes remained closed. Thunder could be heard, and lighting emitted from the ceiling.

"Why are you messing with this fool! Take him out!" a deep, eerie booming voice shouted. Yin Yarn heard this odd voice.

"Who is that?" Yarn called out. It was a little too light to be the wizard's voice, and he is probably dead.

"SHUT UP! Leave me alone! You don't take control unless I tell you to!" Marx screamed, it sounded as though he was in great pain, like he was holding off something. He struggled to get up, swaying back and forth.

"Weak! You need this key!" Lighting stuck Marx in the back. His high pitched screech, pierced Yarn's ears.

"What the- hey wait this is my chance!" He peeled himself from the wall, using his knitting needles he started to knit a dragon. But lighting had stuck his unfinished creation to dust. Yarn decided he should knit a cannon, some payback for the laser that almost vaporized him. He flouted toward Marx and began knitting the cannon a few feet from Marx.

Marx's eyes snapped open, manic and bloodshot. He screeched at the sight of Yin Yarn, who quivered still with fear.

"Ok! I'm sorry Marx! Relax man! I just want the key!"

"Your apologies are useless." Marx said and looked Yin Yarn in the eyes. It was like two voices speaking at once: Marx and the other eerie, angry voice.

"Ok! Ok! Just came down will ya! I'll just call off the dragons ok! I'll just-" He paused and cringed a bit. Yarn became charred as a wave of orange fire consumed him. It vaporized him to dust, Yin Yarn was off to the flames forever.

"No Need." an exhausted deep voice said. Behind the pile of dust was Magolor. His red wispy body burnt black on the ends from flames. Marx's colors completely reverted. The insane facial expression was replaced with a whimsical happy grin.

"Magolor!" He leaped up run toward him. "I thought you were done for!"

"So did I! then I thought, If their made yarn, fire could vaporize them. So the old term 'fight fire with fire' actually worked!" He laughed at his own joke. But Marx hysterical, more out of happiness that his friend was alive and able to tell a corny joke that made him laugh!

"Well the key is safe now, but we couldn't save the mansion." Marx's smile faded. The mansion was charred from all of the flames and lighting. Black spots all over the purple brick walls and marble tiles. Marx's wings slumped to the ground. "Just fantastic…Nightmare and the others are going to kill me."

"WHAT IS ALL OF THIS MESS!" An angry, dark voice can be heard from downstairs. "To have a successful battle only to come home to obnoxious destruction! MARX!"

"There goes Dark Mind." Marx restored himself to normal.

"At least there's good news!" Magolor grinned. He removed the crown from his head, reverting himself to normal as well. His blue regal outfit was a bit tarnished still, however. But the crown was shaking and the gem on it was throwing out sparks and changing into all sorts of random colors. "What's wrong with this thing!"

"You probably strained your powers too much and it's going berserk." Marx came close examining it. "Had you stayed in your wizard form any longer, you may have lost control of it. Or so it looks like."

"Well the dragons did give me a lot of trouble." Magolor said.

"Come on! Lets' take it Nightmare to have a look!" Marx began walking toward the door.

_What is this thing up to?_ Magolor pondered as he followed Marx. He knew the crown was sadistic but it never acted insane like this.

**-End of Chapter 6-**


	7. Chapter 7: New Party Member!

**-Chapter 7-**

The foyer was an absolute mess. The wall charred in splotches, vases and doors knocked over. The steps to the balcony had a gaping hole in it.

"Unbelievable! Look at this! All of this!" Dark Mind was fuming. The group flouted inside to survey the damage. Behind them was a black star with a violet eye, a purple aura glowing off it. It looked around curiously.

"This is just lovely." Drawcia said sarcastically. "Our dearest apologies Dark Nebula, This was the one time I was hoping we would find an old friend on the street and there would be no nasty surprise on the way home." She turned to the star.

"Well at least you had a place to stay that was comfy, better than living in a chest." He said bitterly.

"I have a feeling Yin Yarn has something to with this…since he wasn't at the meeting" Nightmare sighed. "I just hope letting Marx guard the key was not a big mistake."

"It wasn't!" Marx called down from the balcony, he was standing next to Magolor. Marx bounced on top of a grey ball with a star on top. A grey key sat in between his jester hat. The Master Crown was still in Magolor's hands and it was still sparking, but not as much as before.

"Very good Marx! I see I can trust you in the future." Nightmare pulled out the light blue key from inside his cloak. "Here is our 2nd key."

"What about Necrodeus?" Magolor asked. Nightmare made a sadistic grin and with his other hand, he pulled out a skull with three eye sockets. It had several cracks and even some holes like it was bashed in. Nightmare's hand immediately crushed the skull, its pieces falling on the charred floor.

"Well, we know what happened to him now." Marx commented. Magolor felt a little bad, Necrodeus was evil yes, but he seemed like a guy who could have been a good mentor, saying wise things and what not. Dark Mind noticed Magolor's mellow look.

"Don't feel bad for him! If he used his head, he would have brought some type of army! He knew it would be three against one."

"It would have been four, if Yin Yarn had been there." Drawcia added. She was creating living paint brushes to act as brooms. They were sweeping and clean up the foyer.

"So, care to join us on our quest Dark Nebula?" Nightmare turned to the black star.

"No thank you, Nightmare. I actually enjoy it here, making Demon Dees and other creatures' lives a living hell." Dark Nebula started. "Besides, even if I did return to the surface, the curse placed on me would lock me back inside a chest. A chest that only mere mortal souls can open and there is nothing else to do with the upper world other than destroy it." He yawned. "It is rather boring. Anyway, I wish you luck on your journey back to the surface! Farewell!" Dark Nebula disappeared quickly in a poof of purple dust.

"Shame, we could use other members to our party." Nightmare pouted a bit. Rumbling shook the ground, dust plumes fell from the ceiling.

"Oh no. Who is it now?" Marx said rather annoyed. As if Yin Yarn hadn't pushed the limits of his temper already.

The part of the ceiling exploded, the subspace sky can be seen. A round creature can be seen flouting down. It was dark pink with white, large, feathered wings. He wore a mask with cross cut out, red eyes showing through the horizontal portion. Horn were sticking out through the top of the mask, he held a pink lance and white shield with a pink cross. He descended down slowly like an angel. He white armored feet touched the ground.

"Well, well, well." Dark Mind began, approaching the angelic knight. "If it isn't the former: 'Greatest warrior in the galaxy.'" Dark Mind looked as though he would burst into laughter at any moment. The knight gave him a cold stare.

"Tell me you are not here for the keys, are you Galacta Knight?" Nightmare asked rather annoyed.

"Yes." The winged knight replied. His voice was cold and a tad bit low. "But I figured rather than destroying you all, I offer my assistance." He held up his white gloved hand, from it materialized a green key with horns around the whole. The group shuttered in shock.

"I have my reasons for returning to the world of the living, revenge." He tossed the key to Nightmare. Three out of Five keys obtained.

"What? Revenge against Kirby? I know he beat you down before getting to me." Marx called down from the balcony. He remembered the events of True Arena in Dreamland a while ago. Galacta Knight turned to the Jester's position.

"In due time, I want revenge on the warrior that took my title." Galacta clenched his fist.

"Oh! You mean Meta Knight?"

"Yes." He said with slight irritation.

"Very well, you can join us. One of your power is greatly appreciated." Nightmare put on a wicked smile. He pointed to Magolor. "This is our newest member, Magolor. He has the Master Crown in his possession. I don't think I need to introduce the others since you have met them in the past already."

"The Master Crown?" Galacta Knight's eyes glinted as he quickly turned to the Halcandran next to Marx. A sharp chill shot up Magolor's spine.

"Er…Hi." He squeaked. No doubt the knight scared him. Galacta kept his stare locked on to him for a good minute.

_How did a weak creature like him get the crown of limitless power?_ Galacta couldn't think of anyway for a simple creature Magolor to obtain such great power. Whatever he used it for, it was probably in vain since he ended up getting killed.

"He obtained the crown by tricking Kirby into defeating Landia." Nightmare responded as if reading his thoughts. He looked at the crown, frowning as he saw it's insane state. "Did you strain the crown Magolor? It's critical with power!"

"I had to fight five fabric fire dragons in here! FIVE!" Magolor responded. "That's why it's such a mess in here!"

"Do not use it for a while, in fact you won't need to. We have yet to find the location of 4th key." Nightmare said.

"By find it, we mean we cannot sense its power to locate it." Drawcia added to clarify. "Since there are no maps for these things."

"Well then in that case, can we nap? I had long day!" Marx whined like a child. Dark Mind groaned.

"Fine! Just be quiet, I'm not in the mood for that whining right now." Dark Mind formed a mirror portal, grumbling as he went inside. The mirror shattered after he entered it.

"My brushes will work while we rest then." Drawcia disappeared into dust.

"Galacta Knight," Nightmare turned to the Knight. "Allow me to create you a room." Nightmare swirled a cloud of darkness in his hand. It enlarged and engulfed the two before disappearing. Marx jumped down from his grey ball and turned to Magolor.

"I'm not going to get too comfortable in my sleep because that Crown of yours keeps giving me a bad vibe." He looked worried at the sparking crown. "But I'm pretty sure you'll holler if something is wrong." He winked. "Good Night." Marx faded away.

"'Night Marx." Magolor was left alone with the brush brooms sweeping. The foyer was looking a little better from the cleaning. But Magolor still felt tension; he looked at the Master Crown. It began sparking wildly again. "I am not keeping you in my cape while I sleep." Magolor glared at the golden item. _What are you up too?_ He walked into the archway that led to the hallway.

* * *

><p>He jerked up from his sleep with sharp breaths. The halcandran had a horrific dream like he was being suffocated in smothered darkness. It didn't even feel like he slept long, for about 10 minutes most. He was in his plain white room, though it seemed grey since he had his lamp off. He grabbed his chest; it was like the worst stomach ache in the world. He groaned while struggling to get off his bed. He moved a few feet before collapsing on the ground. His face staring at the white floor, he could see his own sweat drops pouring toward it. Something jerked up in his throat; it was enough force to smash his head into the ground.<p>

_No! Not this! This was what was happening to me earlier!_ His sight was becoming blurry, but he could make out a mirror across the room. He struggled to crawl toward it; the effort was making his stomach feel worse. But he needed to know what was wrong with him! His hat and gloves started feeling tight; his lower body felt as though it were forcing itself upward. His breaths got shorter and faster paced. Magolor started to feel like an inflated balloon just ready to pop. He could hear his clothes tearing, but continued to crawl till his head hit the mirror itself.

"Come on Magolor!" He whispered weakly to himself. "Just look up, even if it's…. for a few seconds…. before you black out!" He slowly looked up, his sight readjusting. He gasped at the sight.

His face was pitch black with white soulless eyes. His ears grew out of his hat and down to the ground, they looked like a ram's horns. His mittens were now black hands with pointy fingers.

"WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME?" He shouted. He turned around and sitting on his bed was the Master Crown. But the crown was now silver, sun like, jagged spikes poking out of it. Two large horns stuck out on the sides and trailed off purple. Two more grew out behind it and looped at the ends. The gem glowed in a variety of colors. "You! Didn't I put you on my nightstand?" But it simply laughed at him.

"What's the matter child?" It called out, mimicking Magolor's voice. "Afraid of your own soul?"

"What the hell are you doing to me?" Magolor rushed to his bed and grabbed it with his black hands. "Answer me!" But all he heard was laughing, echoing off the walls. He clenched his head in a futile effort to block the sounds. But they just got louder. He dropped the crown on the ground. "Stop it! Shut up! Shut up! PLEASE! HELP ME! SOMEONE! ANY ONE! MARX! HELP ME!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. The pain became worse; the laughs became so loud he banged his head against the mirror. Nothing stopped; nothing eased up…just madness.

Something leaped inside of his throat, it cut off his screams. It was in his mouth now, and then the feeling in his mouth just disappeared. Magolor panicked and tore away his scarf. A bloodshot eye was inside, moving around looking at its surroundings. Magolor stepped away at the sight, he felt sick to his stomach as if it already wasn't hurting. He was some type of monster or at least turning into one.

Then he felt it, like someone was grabbing the edges of his mouth. Prying it wide, forcing a sick smile on his face, it made the eye in his mouth looked angry. He could only stare at it in the mirror, a broad grin that hurt to see and feel. The mirror cracked at the hideous sight. And yet, a chuckle came out of Magolor, invulnerably. Some thing was making this funny, this sick transformation, this sick joke. Magolor didn't want to laugh, he wanted to die. But his body continued to laugh anyway, uncontrollably. He was crying on the inside, crying because he couldn't stop laughing. Laughing at his own misery.

* * *

><p>Marx knew he shouldn't have let himself get too comfortable in his sleep. But something was different about Magolor screams. It was bloodcurdling at the top of his lungs. Now this was just plain scary.<p>

"What the hell?" Marx rushed out of his room down the hallway. Something was really wrong with Magolor now. The screams were just way too loud to be just a nightmare. Suddenly a door swung open from the right side. Marx was able to stop just in time so that it wouldn't hit him. Galacta knight flouted from behind it, kicking the door closed, he noticed Marx.

"Do you hear that?" He asked.

"Yeah, it's coming from Magolor's room. He's been having nightmares for a while, but he never screamed that loud."

"From the power I am sensing, that is more than just a nightmare."

An explosion arose from the end of the hallway, the dust and smoke blew violently down the hallway like a hurricane. Marx struggled to stand his ground; Galacta used his shield to block the wind from his face.

"Magolor? Hey!" Marx called out into the smoke. He coughed a bit from it. "It came from his room!"

"I doubt Magolor is even alive at this point!" Galacta Knight wiped some of the dust from his shield. "That explosion probably killed him."

"Don't say that, that's the last thing I want." Marx returned stern expression to Galacta's theory. "He already had way too many near death experiences in this hellhole."

"You care for his welfare? I thought you were strictly selfish Marx?" Galacta looked at Marx in an interesting manner. "It's unlike you; I hope you know growing soft makes you weak." There was silence. Marx looked down at the ground, he scowled.

"I only care for the crown's welfare." Marx replied in a low tone, he turned away from Galacta Knight. "Magolor dies and the crown may just die with him. That Limitless power is a great help on our quest for the keys. I could care less what happens to Magolor." He turned slightly so Galacta could see the side of his face. Marx had an evil, sinister frown on his face.

"Now this is the Marx I know." Galacta grinned under his mask.

"and don't think I don't know your lusting for that crown!" Marx added. "You want it to overpower Meta Knight, don't you?"

Galacta Knight didn't reply, but he cringed at thought of using any form of assist in defeating a foe. But he wanted his title back so badly. The wind settled slowly, and dark shadowy silhouette was just a few feet from them.

The creature had a large dark grey hat shaped like ram's horns, torn in some places and silver rings with black spikes around them. In the middle was its face: black and dark bluish green. It had white blank eyes with a broad smile; a bloodshot eye ball inside looking as though it were glaring. It had black pointy hands, with pink hexagon emblems where its wrist should be. A sliver horned crown sat on top, sprouting two spiked tentacles in back with grey gaseous wings underneath. It let out a high pitched screech at the sight of the smaller creatures under him.

"Is that…Is that the Master Crown in such a mutated state?" Galacta moved back a little.

"The crown? Wait, Magolor!" Marx looked at the strange, frightening creature. Could this thing be his friend? Corrupted by limitless power? "You're…You're a monster now!" The monster shrieked again and launched itself toward a wall, breaking though into the subspace sky. _Monster…_ Marx thought. It wasn't just a monster. "Magolor Soul." Marx said under his breath. His eyes dilated large, almost consuming his eyes in blackness.

"What?" Galacta looked at Marx.

"Magolor Soul, that's his soul form!" Marx's eyes returned to normal.

"How do you know this?" Galacta Knight asked, almost demanding.

"I can just sense it somehow…but Magolor isn't aware of what he's doing!"

"So then who is in control? The Master Crown?"

"It has to be! Come on!" Marx emitted his golden wings, Scales shining. "We can't let it get away!" Marx took off, Galacta Knight following close behind, chasing Magolor Soul into the starry sky. _Just what does that crown want?_ Marx wondered.

**-End of Chapter 7-**


	8. Chapter 8: vs Magolor Soul

**-Chapter 8-**

The subspace sky turned red, the stars slowly disappeared. The clouds became dense and yet Marx and Galacta Knight flew through them at incredible velocities, chasing the flying creature in front of them. Galacta Knight had his eyes locked on his target, prepared to fight if necessary. Marx on the other hand was more worried of Magolor's welfare.

_Please tell me he's not going stay in his soul form forever…_ He pondered. "He can't stay a monster." He muttered his thoughts out loud.

"Yes he very well can." Galacta said. "Magolor has weak will. I can already tell because although the Master Crown contains limitless power, it can be controlled."

Marx looked to Galatca as if to respond in his friend's defense, but no sound came out. He knew Magolor couldn't gain control of his now monstrous body by himself. The only hope was to defeat the creature and hope that Magolor will be set free. Could that monster really be his soul? Maybe it once was and the crown simply brought it back? Or may the crown possessed him and overtook his body? But Magolor has a kind heart! So then why would he end up in the flames?

The clouds cleared away to reveal a Volcanic wasteland, Volcanoes exploding and lava rivers everywhere. The heat was intense. Magolor Soul took a nose dive into the flaming inferno, Marx and Galacta Knight following hot pursuit. The chase was intensive as they swerved around bends of rock inside the volcanic canyon. The extreme heat made Galacta sweat inside of his mask, but he pushed on. The lava river was flowing fast, but it looked as though it were flowing backward to the two villains since they were going at such high speeds.

The monster ahead turned to see the two still pursuing it, it lead out a roar and opened out his hands. Dimensional star portals started to appear on the rock walls, they ejected spiked thorns. Marx gasped as he dodged one, the two made evasive maneuvers avoiding the ejecting thorns and focusing on chasing their target. The creature was gaining some ground away from them.

"We're losing him!" Galacta roared to Marx.

"I can teleport to catch up!" Marx shouted back and evaded a thorn. "Go get Nightmare and the others!"

"I never run from battle Marx!"

"The battle hasn't even started! This is just a chase! It's the master crown we're dealing with Galacta, we need more than just the two of us if we want it unharmed!" Marx looked at Galacta Knight. "Just GO!"

"Don't do anything regretful Marx." Galacta growled and reluctantly made an aerial loop backward toward the sky, disappearing as a star in the distance.

_He can be a royal pain at times…_ Marx thought to himself. It's better for him to fight Magolor by himself, so he can at least make an attempt to save him. The tormented soul entered a cave entrance up ahead; Marx slowed a bit as he followed the creature.

The cave was a contrast to outside, it was calm and silent. The walls were brown and the heat was more comforting. Marx lowered himself to the ground and sat; he was out of breath and needed a small break. A high pitched screech echoed in the cave, Marx jumped a bit. He quickly flapped his wings and charged down further into the cave.

"Magolor!" He called out, his voice echoed. No response. "Magolor!" again, no response. He sighed. _Guess being a villain, I wasn't cut out for saving anyone._ The cave started to get a bit darker, the temperature started dropping. It was for about a few more minutes or so before Marx finally stopped and sat for a little. Sighing, he slumped down on the brown wall.

Marx's determination is great, but his Patience is wearing thin. In the tunnel of the cave he could just turn back and wait for Galacta and the others, he would be scolded for it however. Desperation to save his friend is leading frustration. _Determination, patience, desperation, frustration…_ He remembered a story he heard about a man of a distant realm, a man willing to prove he was a true man of peace to a heartless robot. it was split into six chapters. What was the next part of the story though? _Anger…. _

"Giving up so soon Marx?" A voice called out, inside the cave. It sounded just like Magolor!

"Magolor?" He got up and looked toward to darkness of the rest of the cave.

"Do you really think you can stop me?" it taunted.

"Stop you?" Marx asked confused. "What are you-...wait you're not Magolor!" The voice laughed and grew to a higher, creepy pitch.

"I'm not, I'm his soul!"

"NO you're not!" Marx was becoming agitated. "You're the Master Crown, just possessing Magolor!"

"Smart boy, but do you even know why we are here?"

"Don't think I want to, release Magolor!"

"Never! I haven't been able to use a host for a long time. All I want is some fun, fun that wretched dragon never gave me! All I would do is torture a few demon dees or so."

"You think you can just take over other people for your own amusement? Make them do things they would regret?" Marx's wings darkened into a deep orange.

"Yes, but I'm not the only one that does so." The crown snickered. "Looks like someone else is taking over you too."

"What? What are you- aghhh!" Marx's internal temperature started to rise to that of a furnace; he shut his eyes tight at the pain. A red aura engulfed him, his lavender skin took on a deep purple. His wings became deep, blood red. The hearts on them turned from red to light blue. The colors of his hat turned dark magenta and sky blue. His jester hat stood on end and the puff spiked up and ripped. His brown shoes became pointed. His red bow tie morphed into a tarnished golden necklace with a ruby gem in the middle. "SOUL! WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT TAKING CONTROL!"

"Looks as though I'm about to meet a new Marx." The voice snickered .Marx simply chuckled but it sounded pixilated and distorted.

"Yes...let me show you my other side!" Marx's eyes snapped open, they were bloodshot, manic and moving everywhere. He let a deep, eerie laugh as an elongated tongue slid out. His fangs were jagged and uneven. Marx Soul flapped his red wings and sped down the cave at a great speed.

The cavern seemed like a brown blur to the dream lander. Marx wanted to save his friend. But Marx Soul was after something else entirely.

_Damn it Soul! Why did you interfere? _Marx's voice called out.

"You were taking too damn long number one…and you know exactly what the second reason is!"

_No…NO! Didn't you see what the friggin Crown did to Magolor! You look ugly and scary enough to begin with!_

"It's not about looks, it's about Power! I wanted Popstar, now I can have the universe!"

_Unbelievable! You're the part of me that never got over that! Look at where it got us!...look you can have the stupid crown, just don't kill Magolor!_

"You still care about that weakling! Didn't I-"

_SHUT THE HELL UP AND FLY!_

Marx Soul reluctantly obeyed his true self's orders, The more they argued, the longer it would take him to get the crown. He grumbled, just how long is this cave? The brown cave just kept extending with a black hole at the end he could seemingly never reach. A loud screech burst through the silence, a dimensional star appeared in the distance up ahead. Marx Soul slowed as it came closer. Just as he was going to enter it, a large creature spiraled out and rammed into Marx, pushing him into the ground. He cracked open an eye to see Magolor Soul spinning itself into him.

The cavern ground caved from underneath them, and the two souls found themselves falling downward into the blackness below.

"Your mine! Crown!" Marx Soul opened his mouth wide and let out a huge white beam. But Magolor was able to avoid it by teleporting. Marx Soul fell into the darkness, the light of the brown cave faded. He flipped to see a grey stone ground growing closer. He landed on his feet, debris from the cave above falling around him. The new cave was grey and cold, a chilling opposite to above. It sent chills up Marx Soul's spine "Where are you Master Crown?"

_Frustration, Anger…._

"What are you going on about?" Marx Soul asked confused. "Are you even-" He was cut off by some force that knocked him across the cave. He felt himself flying high and DOOF! On to the cold wall. Something cold and sharp fell on top of him as he groaned. He looked to see shattered ice around him.

He lifted himself up to see Magolor Soul with a large ice hammer in his black, sinister hands. Marx Soul grunted and got to his feet, but slip back down on his face. The floor had turned to ice!

"Clever isn't it?" Magolor Soul asked, very pleased with his opponent's misery. "I invented it from Kirby's own ultra abilities, there almost alike." The ice started melting away.

"Ha…ha…ha. Funny." Marx Soul said with bitter sarcasm, he got up and swayed. Angry eyes locked on his opponent, the first time his pupils actually stood still and focused on something.

_What was that last section of the story?_ Marx pondered.

"Are you even paying attention to the fact that my butt's being kicked?" Marx Soul scolded his lighter counterpart.

_What do you want me to do? Yell at you for losing?_

"Worrying about some dumb story, that's the least of my problems! I would think you would care about your second personality getting whooped in OUR body!"

_Ours? Ha, don't make me laugh! It was mine until after my dreaded fateful encounter with Kirby! Then all of a sudden I had to make space for YOU!_ Marx made a sort of mental lash a his split personality, as Marx Soul flinched at the sudden throbbing migraine.

Magolor Soul created two bright blue fire balls and pushed them away. He moved one hand to the left, and with it a blue fire dragon started heading right for Marx. He gasped and teleported away. Magolor swayed his other hand in the opposite direction; Marx predicted the next monster flame perfectly and spat an ice block at it. The monster flame slowly became engulfed in ice before breaking into pieces. Magolor now swayed both of his hands and two flames came at opposite directions. Marx Soul grinned and disappeared. Magolor Soul turned around the room, wondering where the jester's soul went.

"SURPRISE!" The jester appeared in front of Magolor with a sick disturbing grin on his face, he spat an ice block at Magolor soul's face. And disappeared and reappeared everywhere like he was on a sugar rush, laughing hysterically. "Catch me if you can!"

"Silence!" Magolor Soul spun his hands together and a large black star appeared. The suction was strong. Marx Soul was having too much fun to realized he just teleported right in front of the black hole. It ate him fast, too disoriented to resist. He immediately felt sparks of electricity and heard explosions going off; he could barely hear his own screaming. The pain was brief but agonizing, just as fast as it started it ended and the hole released Marx. He was dropped on to the floor, moaning in pain.

"Marx…." Marx Soul called out to his true self weakly and dazed. His pupils were spinning and he was frowning.

_What?_ Marx answered with irritation.

"Did you figure out how that story ended?"

_I thought you didn't care?_

"I could use some encouragement here!" He snapped. Dimensional stars appeared around him. He leaped just in time to avoid the thorns.

_The last chapter was called-_

"What?" More dimensional stars appeared and shot thorns at Marx Soul just barely able to avoid them. Magolor Soul just kept teleporting to disorient Marx.

_Not sure I should tell you…the story's end wasn't that happy you know!_

"Let's see how you like the constant spamming of teleporting Marx?" Magolor Soul screeched. Marx Soul gritted his fangs, and then he made a sinister smile.

"Just make that wrong move Magolor Soul…" He whispered devilishly. Wrong move Magolor Soul did make, he came too close to Marx. Marx Soul let out his hyper beam, pushing Magolor into the wall. It didn't let up for a bit until finally, the beam dissipated.

The dust cleared, revealing Magolor Soul's blank face. It was on the ground, but there was now a hole in the wall. Behind it was a grey stone altar, on top…a red key. Marx Soul laughed manically.

_I don't believe it! That's probably why the crown ran over here! _Marx was astonished. _How did he know the key was here?_

Coming close to Magolor Soul, Marx Soul was ready to claim his true prize: the Master Crown. The key was also very important, but he could tend to that in due time.

_Don't tell me you killed him…_Marx said glumly.

"Hey, maybe he should get a stronger will, now what was that last part of that story?"

_Fall…_

"Fall?"

'_Determination, Patience, Desperation, Frustration, Anger, Fall…the path of a tragic hero. In his anger the man sacrificed his life to defeat the heartless robot. He lost everything, even his loved ones.' That's the end, word-for-word._

Marx Soul chucked a bit. But he paused. Magolor Soul was gone…no body or anything. The key was still on its altar so it didn't leave. "What the-""He stopped midway. It was a sharp pain at first, piercing through the top of his head. Marx Soul's eyes dilated and froze, starting straight at the crimson key.

The large sword stuck the top of his cranium, right in the middle of his spiky jester hat. Magolor Soul giggled madly as he forced the sword harder, satisfied with screeches of pain from his opponent. "I was going to finish you with my ice hammer," He laughed. "But the ultra sword was slower and more painful, much to my delight of course. " He was almost done sawing the jester's soul in half.

Marx Soul could remember what this was like. It was like when Kirby had destroyed him with his own hammer. How he split in half from a hammer, Marx may never know. But this pain was just like it, splitting, insides shredding. When his separation was complete, his gurgled in his own pool of green blood; his sight became blurry.

_Fall…_Marx said weakly.

Satisfied with some sort of success, the crown finally decided to release his grip on Magolor. The creature shrunk down into a mass of greenish grey dust, Swirling in a spiral around the creature. When the smoke cleared, the true Magolor had been restored as well as the Master Crown in its regular golden state. Magolor's unconscious Halcandran body detached from the crown and dropped to the cold hard floor. He moaned a bit, but didn't wake up.

Marx's wings reverted back gold, all of Marx Soul's demon features disappeared. Then his wings retracted, he was normal and now dying, his blood reverted back to red. His sight swirled and now new voices echoed inside the cave. Black silhouettes moved about.

"He's dying…" one said

"There is Magolor!" shouted another ghostly voice .

"They found the key! Excellent!" one said with joy.

One silhouette grabbed the key and approached Marx, closer and closer. His weak body could no longer carry on, he simply let the black shadow take him…what was left of him anyway.

* * *

><p>The spacious warehouse had a rusty smell to it, it was around for a few decades and unused. In side were a few wooden crates, and puddles of water from the leaks in the ceiling. The was also a crane inside. At one end was a large blue and white ship. It was like a boat, blue ores on the side, and two white wings pinned down with star bolts. A large blue emblem in front with stars on it. It had a mast with a star painted on. The ship glowed inside the warehouse, a contrast to the broken down area around it.<p>

A loud click was heard and the grey doors on the other end of the house creaked open. Magolor stepped inside, dripping wet from the rain. His eyes were gleaming, soon would be the day when he would be the savior of Halcandra. He had the Legendary Lor Starcutter within his grasp. The battle upgrades were finished and all was that left was to do was test it out, and then it would be time to face the general. He approached it, and rubbed his mitten across its shiny white side. _Just you wait Metal General…_He made a sinister grin. Seven months of hellish working conditions finally paid off.

"Magolor?" a voice called from behind. Magolor turned to see Aureole, watching him wearily. She was worried of Magolor's mad plan from the time he told her. Even after all of the complications she told him about: What if Landia came after him? What if the General overpowered the ship?

"I know, I know…it's dangerous." Magolor frowned under his scarf. "But I can do this! Even if I don't come back, I'll spark up some motivation for others to go against him!"

"You're gonna mess up Magolor, as much as I hate to be despondent…." Aureole looked to the ground in sorrow. "You're…you're just not gonna make it against those odds…"She teared up a bit.

"Aureole…"

"Magolor, it's the General and Landia. There is just no…never mind." Aureole turned away, frustrated. "You won't learn until find out your own! You're so foolish!" She snapped. She stomped away from Magolor and out the door.

"Aureole! Wait!" Magolor called out to her, but she wouldn't turn back. She was fed up of trying to save him.

She paced herself away from the warehouse and out of the parking lot. The rain drenched her, drops falling across her face. _He's too stubborn._ She thought. Her angry expression softened. _But at least, he will be able to see his family again._ Tears formed in her eyes, she didn't want to lose Magolor.

She walked faster across the grey, dim streets. Cars with crates whizzing past her. The sidewalk had many cracks, as well. Some lamppost blinked on and off, some had blown out and hadn't been replaced for years. She looked around her grim surroundings; Magolor could leave this place and go to a better one on his death mission. It was like sick comfort, death was the only escape from here.

Before she knew it, she had arrived at her destination: the sewers. She came to the factory sewers when she needed silence and solitude. Time to think. It smelled horrible but she couldn't go home, it would bring back too many memories of her dead parents. Everywhere else in town had nothing but noise. It was a bit rusted and brown, drainage pipes and a few ladders leading to the bridges up above. There was running water, down here as well, a river that was soothing.

She walked toward one of the walls; there was a thermometer with a sort of touch pad on the side. She fiddled with the controls a bit and all the water froze instantly. She stepped on one of the patches of ice, slowly as she steadied her balance. Once she felt ready, Aureole slid across on one foot. As opposed to the heat on Halcandra, the cold was a nice change. Especially when it was blowing across her face as she skated. She giggled a bit, it was the first time she giggled for a while. Twirling like a ballerina on ice, she didn't realize when Magolor walked in.

He followed all the way here; this was the one time when his "mission" could wait. This was his only friend that was still alive, his best one too. He smiled as he watched her skate, it nice to see her having fun for a change rather than working. Then she stopped suddenly, his smile faded. She turned to see him, sliding slowly toward him. It was tense waiting for her to come. They stared at each other for a while.

"….Magolor." Aureole broke the silence. Magolor looked up to her with guilt and regret. Aureole sighed. "If this is what you really want to do…then I can't stop you. You don't having anything to lose anyway."

"My life, and you." Magolor felt the tear roll down his cheek.

"Aside from me, that really isn't much considering how suckish our life is." Aureole giggled a bit at her joke. It was enough to make Magolor smile. "And you have already gotten too far," She sat beside him. "To throw seven months of hard labor away now."

"Yeah, I gonna try not to fail." Magolor said, but his voice was shaky.

"You know, if you die it may do more harm than good. You have a good soul, I'm pretty sure you will go to some type of paradise for all your trouble." She smiled at him.

"Yeah! I'm sure I will." Magolor jumped up, eyes gleaming.

"Magolor, promise me." She got up. "Promise me that you will always have a good heart, never become like the general. I'm pretty sure all that we've been through and all of the trials your about to face will teach you something." She embraced Magolor and hugged him tight.

"I...I promise!" He closed his eyes, such a warm feeling. He didn't want it to disappear. Aureole let go of him, and started toward the door.

"Goodbye…Magolor." She turned away and walked out the doors to the sewers. The tears flung out of Magolor's face, he tried to erase them with his white scarf, but it was no use.

_No use crying…_he thought_. You already poured the gasoline, might as well light the fire…_

**-End of Chapter 8-**

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

**The story Marx mentions is a reference to the game: " Bit Trip FATE" from Gaijin Games. The Chapter names are the Stage names in the game. I thought it would be a cool way to stage the events before, during and after the fight. I hope I did well...  
><strong>


	9. Chapter 9

**-Chapter 9-**

The wind was strong as it was blowing across the Halberd deck. Meta knight stood on the edge of ship, watching the Orange Ocean below. It was unusually gusty today, his violet cape was flapping violently at the wind.

_Could this weather be an omen?_ The masked knight thought to himself.

Green, star shaped islands began to appear across the ocean. He could see the little dots moving about, his army was training on the islands below. It has been about two months since King Dedede agreed to merge his army with Meta knight's. Training his Waddle Dees has been a nightmare, they only knew how to use spears and they could barely use those! Fortunately Meta Knight's own soldiers have been worrying about them. King Dedede worked with some of the other soldiers that had signed up or were "drafted," which involved kidnapping them. Meta Knight knew exactly who to get, he kept the list of all those entered all of the Helper to Hero tournaments and there were hundreds of them. He took them whiter they were willing or not.

"Hey, you think they all actually stand a chance." A voice called from behind, there stood King Dedede; standing tall in his red robe. He had his hands on his hips, the King was having a lot of fun training, though he was ill tempered with the soldiers at times.

"I honestly cannot tell you." Meta Knight turned slightly toward Dedede. "Even with intensive training, I still have my worries about the army. There is still a form of uncertainty in the air."

The halberd began to descend; the islands can be seen much better now. There were knights of all kinds training citizens of dreamland. Some look similar to Meta Knight, others looked completely different .

The Halberd approached one fairly large island, with two palm trees on top of a hill. At the hill's base was Bandana Dee, with a spear in his hand. Across from him was Kirby, he had a red and purple headband with a yellow star on it. Kirby also had a spear in hand, his eyes locked on his opponent with a glare. Behind him though, were seven, almost identical other Kirbys in the colors of: Yellow, Blue, Red, Green, Purple, Brown, and White. They all looked at the two competitors with a large amount of curiosity in their innocent eyes. King Dedede and Meta Knight approached the edge of the ship as if it were the front seat to a movie.

"Where did all of them come from?" King Dedede had sheer terror in his eyes. One Kirby was enough, but Eight?

"They are all members of Kirby's species, ones that are close to him." Meta Knight's eyes became green. "They were scattered across the galaxy, searching for them was difficult and capturing them was even more so."

"So that's where you go during break time! Guess you really are serious about this whole army thing." King Dedede seemed annoyed at the fact that there were more Kirbys. But if Meta Knight's Paranoia is true, then this decision may just save them all.

"The Yellow, White, Blue and Brown ones were resistant, but formable opponents. The others came quietly." Meta Knight looked back to the battle, which was just starting.

Bandana made a sudden lunge at Kirby with his spear, the sharp end aimed between Kirby's eyes. Kirby's angry expression faded to surprise and leaped backward just in time for the enemy's spear to hit the ground instead. Bandana struggled to pull his spear out of the grassy ground. He saw Kirby charging from the corner of his eye, his hopeless pulls became more frantic. Kirby just came closer, spear aimed at the waddle dee. Bandana realized it was no use, he bolted just as Kirby was within feet from him. Bandana stopped at the edge of the island, about a 100 feet or so from Kirby, who was now confused. Bandana wiggled his arm a bit and another spear materialized in his hand. He turned around to face his opponent.

"If you got eight Kirbys, I doubt you need anyone else! Not even your own army!" Dedede joked. But the Knight's eyes remained locked on the battle between Bandana Dee and Kirby.

"You must remember who we may be dealing with your majesty." Meta Knight responded.

"Every single villain from every single one of Kirby's adventures…" Dedede muttered. Meta Knight was getting a bit frustrated with the King's laxness to the situation. This was potentially the end of the world they were dealing with, and he is looking at it as if it were just another small quest. The masked Knight sighed.

Kirby seemed to be getting the upper hand in this training duel, but Bandana kept battling on nevertheless. Their spears clashed, both just waiting for the other to trip up, but none would back down.

"Do you think we can win this?" King Dedede slumped, his pride shrinking. Meta Knight turned to the King with curiosity. He was confident just a minute ago, what was the sudden change?

"…We have a chance." Meta Knight responded "But it is slim." The King gained a look of sorrow and regret. "But when the time comes…" the knight continued.

Kirby took the end of the spear stick and jabbed it into Bandana Dee foot. The waddle dee jumped back rubbing his foot in pain. Just as Bandana recovered, something whacked his head senseless. It left Bandana confused, his sight became doubled. Kirby was visible, but it was as though there were two of him, and two of everything else. The pink Kirby raised the wooden handle of his spear in the air, Bandana shut his eyes from the painful double vision.

"I will fight until my death." Meta Knight said sincerely. Kirby whacked the waddle dee three times on his head before he fell over, knocked out. The other Kirbys cheered and ran to embrace their Pink warrior friend.

"Until death…" The king repeated. He didn't like the thought of dying a hero. If he was going to be a hero, he wanted to live to see every minute of the fame. After all, even with some of even minor crimes the King has committed to his people, he wondered if he was really going to a paradise and not purgatory.

* * *

><p>The white ceiling slowly faded into clear view, he blinked a few times to wipe the blur from his eyes. Was this the hospital? No. He could see the purple hallway outside, he was in the mansion. He rubbed his eyes, what happened earlier? A silver object appeared in his mind. <em>The Crown!<em> He remembered. And that hideous transformation…wait transformation? The Halcandran shivered.

"Glad to see your up Magolor." A voice came from the doorway. Marx appeared, a white bandage wrapped around him, from his forehead to between his legs. He looked exhausted, the ends of his hat sunk to the ground. "You almost killed me…" He chuckled half-heartedly.

"W-What?" Magolor sat up quickly. Kill his best friend? Impossible!

"Well you weren't aware of it at the time. It was the crown, it overtook you." Marx stepped in the room weary. "I'm just glad your back."

"What's with the bandages?" Magolor asked curiously. Marx sighed, he knew what he was about to say Magolor was NOT going to take lightly.

"…You got a giant sword and sliced me in half." It came out a little more bitter than Marx had intended. Drawcia and Nightmare had healed them both back to health, but not fully as it would take a while. Plus Magolor's injuries were light compared to Marx.

"Oh…I'm sorry…" Magolor lowered his head. Turned into some uncontrollable monster and damn near killed his best friend, great news to wake up with. _And next I'll end up eating someone._ He thought bitterly to himself.

"…don't pout, I'm alive now. Don't get so down over it." Marx sat next to his friend on his bed. Magolor's sorrowful expression wouldn't budge. But it wasn't just Marx he was sad over; he just realized he broke his promise to Aureole. When he became corrupted by the crown, he became everything Aureole warned him against. Everything they hated. A tear slipped from his eye, Marx's eyes widened. "Come now, don't cry!" But there wasn't much he could do, the tears were running like a river down Magolor's face.

"Look I'm sorry! Really sorry! It's just…I have other things on my mind too!" Magolor sobbed, his words barley auditable. Marx wanted to face palm, but he had no arms.

"I hope you know you also brought back the forth key, if that makes you feel a bit better!" Marx looked at the Halcandran. Marx felt a little embarrassed being around the crying guy.

"I did?" The sobbing subsided a bit, Magolor rubbed his eyes.

"Yeah, in fact we already located the last temple!" Marx leaped in the air and a grey ball appeared under him. "So let's get back to business! Whatever things are on your mind can most certainly wait." Marx said this a bit more cheerful, glad Magolor wasn't in a weeping, depressed state anymore.

"Yeah, I don't know what came over me…" Magolor said.

"But due to the extensive damage you did to me earlier, I kinda have to stay on the sidelines this time."

"So you can't come?" Magolor asked desperately.

"Of course I'm coming silly, you think I'm gonna miss the action?" Marx giggled. "I just can't really fight, I need this giant 'cut' to heal. It would be a serious mess if it split again."

"Marx I'm really sorry…" Magolor sighed. He was pretty guilty about it, even if he couldn't remember what he did.

"Don't worry about it, now if I was dead maybe you should panic. But thankfully, I managed to convince Galacta Knight to go get reinforcements. They came just as I was going die!" Marx sounded pretty impressed with himself for thinking ahead at the time. Magolor smiled under his white scarf. "Now come on!" Marx leaped off the bed and started toward the door.

"Marx wait!" Magolor held out his hand out as if to stop Marx.

"What?" Marx turned around puzzled. "You not gonna apologize again are you?" He smirked.

"No…I need to tell you something…" Magolor motioned Marx to come over back to the bed. "When we get all of the keys…I may not go back to Popstar with you guys."

"Huh? Why? Don't you want to get back at Kirby and take over?" Marx was astonished.

"Marx I have things I need to set straight back on my home!"

"Oh, with that general? Just overthrow him and takeover yourself!." Marx said. Magolor cringed at the thought. Then he remembered the voice and what it said when they got the first key:

_That crown…it has a firm grip on you, even more control over you than you realize. Power corrupts child. _The words echoed. If Magolor didn't take over, that crown surely would have made him.

"That Crown…." Magolor said his thought out loud. He clenched his fist, anger burning in his eyes. "The crowns power corrupts everything…"

"Uh…Magolor-"

"I wouldn't take over, that stupid crown would! It would turn me back into a monster, a monster worse than the Metal General ever was! I would just be another tyrant, and I would live with guilt following me at every corner."

"Whoa…Magolor." Marx stepped back from his fuming friend. "Just relax-"

"As if I didn't have enough guilt betraying Aureole and Kirby when they helped me!" Magolor's expression softened into sorrow.

"Who's Aureole? And didn't you trick Kirby?" Marx was starting to get annoyed.

"Not at first! Kirby offered to get my ship parts back so I could go home. When we crash landed on Halcandra, I talked him into slaying the dragon!" Stress, guilt and frustration were Magolor's voice. "I didn't expect the crown to turn me evil or power hungry!" He turned to Marx. "Don't you see? I'm just a fake! A wannabe hero smacked into the path of evil and sent to hell for his crime! I DESERVE TO BE HERE! I DESERVE TO SUFFER!" He began to weep. "Suffer as I did on the surface, only to know pain, misfortune, and everything that qualifies for a living hell!"

"Magolor." Marx was at a loss of words, just a blank stare at his friend. _I just had to go and set him off didn't I?_

"I wanted to leave from since I found out about the factories as a child, I used my computer and researched a lot things that could possibly help me get away from Halcandra…" He stared at the ground. "Every kid on the block laughed at me, hated me." He said bitterly. "Hated me because I reminded them of what was coming to them in a few years. They could have comforted me and been nice to me, but instead decided to dump their pain, fears and anger on me! And I had to carry it for them. My life sucked as is, so I hated them back, because it was the only thing I felt I could do as a child."

"I…I can somewhat relate." No liked Marx too much on Popstar either.

"I had one friend…her name was Aureole. She was nicer than the others and got me to play with them. Even when everyone else died around me in the factories, she was still there. She never changed or let everything get to her." He smirked. "She didn't want me to go through with facing the general, hell she even warned me about Landia. But I was so sucked up in my vendetta against the general at the end of the day, that I didn't listen." A tear fell from Magolor's face. "She wanted me to never become like the General, she said I was so good I would go to a paradise. If only she knew how wrong she would be…I betrayed her…I…I-I let the power get to me…" He pulled the crown from the behind his cape. It's golden sheen shined brightly, it hurt both Magolor and Marx's eyes. Magolor raised it toward the ceiling.

"Magolor?...Don't do it." Marx came close, but his friend stepped back.

"I have to end it now, I can't even live with this in the afterlife!" Magolor clenched his eye and held the crown tight. "Dark Mind was right, I'm weak!"

"No Magolor! NO!" Marx rushed toward Magolor as soon his hand began to plummet to the ground. Marx knew if the crown was destroyed, Magolor would be punished by Nightmare. He knew the cost would be his life.

Marx closed his eyes and braced for impact into his friend. But he stopped, something surged within him. He slowly opened his eyes to Magolor's lower body. He looked up to see Magolor's face filled with terror. Some type of current was flowing through Marx's body, something strong. Then he realized…the crown was on his head. Marx groaned, the power was robust and yet soothing, enriching and pleasurable. He didn't want to take it off, so this is why his soul lusts for its power. He understood now, and Magolor got to feel this every day? Then why was he so miserable?

The power became intense, too intense. It began to burn, like a fire. Now Marx was glowing and groaning. A crimson cloud seemed to be fogging over his sight, he could see Magolor moving back, the crown dropped from his hand to the floor, but it didn't shatter. Magolor was calling out to him, but the sound was fading. Marx began swaying, the crown was off his head, but it still felt as though he were burning. The redness was getting dense, until he could see nothing but red, he couldn't even hear Magolor panicking anymore. He felt his body give way and dropped to the ground, the redness turned to black.

* * *

><p>It was a small grassy island, the wind was strong but not too overwhelming. The Orange Ocean was shimming under the sunset. Meta Knight stood by the edge of the island staring at the sun, hope glimmered in his eyes. The True Arena tournament was starting in few hours. He dreamed that one day he could build his army again, and he was another step closer to fulfilling that dream.<p>

A small black dot appeared in the sun, it came closer and closer. Becoming a winged creature, a light speed it stopped in front of Meta Knight. It was a jester, a sort of manic one with large crazy eyes. It had sharp fangs with a tongue stinking out, brown shoes, a tall blue and dark magenta jester hat with large ripped puffs. He had blood red wings with blue hearts on the tips and multicolored scales. It grinned in an evil fashion at the masked knight.

"Marx?" Meta Knight stepped back drew out his golden sword. He recognized Marx immediately in his twisted state.

"Well, well if it isn't Meta Knight..." Marx's voice was different, deeper, more menacing. "You know, you have to be one of the few people I respect on this forsaking planet."

"I thought you were soundly defeated by Kirby!" Meta Knight scowled.

"I was…but I crashed into nova and pieces of him fused and revived me, created a new me!"

"As if revealing you're true colors wasn't revolting enough." Meta Knight said bitterly, his eyes began to glow red.

"Heheh, you were always so serious. Made you different from the others, I like that. Me and you have some common ground."

"What could you possibly mean? You and I are nothing alike!" Meta Knight became confused.

"We both hate that Popstar is constantly invaded, we want something to be done. No one would care though, they would just simply leave everything to Kirby…" Marx snickered. "But what if he were gone? Darkness would fall over dreamland and the planet. I came to show the world what would happen in such an event!"

"You will do no such thing!" Meta Knight lashed out a beam from his sword, Marx disappeared quickly however. He reappeared after the beam passed, laughing.

"What's happened to your aim over the years Meta Knight? Training doesn't seem to be doing a damn thing for you!" Marx Soul laughed wildly at his own joke. Meta Knight growled and his eyes were almost as red as the Marx Soul's wings. His world may be fragile and defenseless, but it was his home and he was clearly going to defend it.

"Don't test me Marx. Or I will surly show you I am no force to be trifled with!" Meta Knight's anger was blazing.

"You're really going to protect this dump, Ha! You're protecting nothing but a facade! This peaceful world hides under Kirby, without him this world is pathetic! Weak! I would leave if I were you, take the Halberd and move to new galaxy and test others worthy of your strength! I have endless power, nothing can stop me! Not even Kirby!" Marx laughed manically with pride. Pride that Meta Knight despised, he wanted to crush it, to kill it. Destroy the pride and Marx along with it. He made an evil smirk under his mask.

"If you think you're so powerful, then why don't you attend my True Arena Tournament. It will start in a few hours, but you can still sign up. Kirby will be attending." Marx Soul's eyes dilated at the opportunity.

"Yes! Perfect timing! He'll never see me coming! Where is it?"

"At the Arena obviously."

"Well then, it was nice chatting with you Sir Meta Knight." Marx Soul said playfully. "I'm off to prove to the world my strength." He teleported from sight, probably to sign up. The sun and all its beauty were visible again to Meta Knight. It soothed his anger a bit.

_If Kirby fails to defeat you Marx…_ He scowled in thought. _Then I will surely send you in the direction to learn: the Greatest Warrior in the Galaxy is not a force to be reckoned with!_

* * *

><p>"Marx…..Marx?" a voice called out to him. Marx's sight was clearing. He could see Magolor's worried face above him.<p>

"Ugghh…what happened?" Marx slowly lifted himself up.

"Did it give you a nightmare?" Magolor's voice trembled. Marx looked at Magolor despondently. "Marx I'm-"

"I'm fine. It was just a memory." Marx quickly responded. But it wasn't a fond one, he was a real asshole to Meta Knight back then; or at least his soul was. Back when Marx and his soul were one, now his soul is more of a split personality…and a real aggravating one at that. Meta Knight is slow to forgive when you lash too many blows at anything he calls serious, especially his training. The masked Knight will probably be out for Marx's life if he encounters him back on Popstar. Shame, Marx really respected Meta Knight.

"That's good…come on w-we should g-get back to the others, there leaving soon right?" Magolor tried to brush off the awkwardness and tension in the air.

"Yeah…Magolor?" Marx looked at his friend who started toward the door.

"Yes?"

"I sorta understand now, when you talked about the crowns giving you nightmares and bad memories." Marx said softly. "I…I-I…never mind come on." He wanted to talk more, but too much has already happened. The two walked to the door way side-by-side, nothing was said. Neither of them had the will to say anymore since so much was let out already. Both Marx and Magolor just wanted to leave this place...and all their regrets with it.

**-End of Chapter 9-**

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

**Sorry this took so long, broken flash drive and school work got in the way. But everything is fixed now. This chapter was actually going to be shorter, but my imagination started going wild when I finally got to start typing again. So much fun, now the chapter flow should return to normal. Thanks for your patience everyone!  
><strong>


	10. Chapter 10: Final Temple

**-Chapter 10-**

It was a small temple, brown and had a rough texture as though it were made of sand. It had a large dome-shaped roof, with pillars on the sides of the road leading to the temple. The temple itself was located in desert, under a dark brown, stormy sky. The wind was treacherous and harsh, in fact this maybe the same desert that Magolor landed in when he first got here. It was bring back some memories to Magolor, not that he wanted anymore trips down memory lane.

The group of villains left over an hour ago from the mansion, all knowing it would be the last time they see it and its subspace sky. They all liked the mansion, except for Magolor. Even with it's comfortably, he had his eerie and scary moments in there. The crown giving him nightmares, sending frighten illusions and transforming him into a monster. He trailed behind the rest, sulking at the ground. He should have been triumphant, but he felt depressed and overall tired.

They all approached the temple grounds, broken pillars scattered everywhere across the sand, lighting striking at random. A pink force field was formed around the temple, protecting it from the unworthy. The place was abandoned, miserable…. Like a treasured item that was just thrown away and left to ruin. Nightmare was in front of the group, watching the shield in a worry some manner, brushing his skeletal hand across his chin.

"A shield?...perhaps we need the keys…" He raised his hands and the keys emerged around him: the colors of grey, light blue, green, and red. They floated toward the shield as if to shatter it, but they stopped midway. The shield's color turned blue, a warm deep blue. Nightmare watched, puzzled. The keys returned to him.

"What sort of treachery is this?" Dark Mind moved to Nightmare's side. He glared with his one fiery eye at the blue shield. "We collected all of the keys! Don't tell me there is some sort of choosing ceremony!" Mind was furious, to have their troubles be in vain?

"Don't be so flustered! It's probably just another puzzle." Galacta Knight came up from behind. He was aggravated too, but patience is key. "Surely you did not expect the last temple to be a cake walk."

"Step aside!" Drawcia formed a purple paintbrush and came close to the shield; she drew a line quickly in hopes of slashing the shield. Nothing happened however; Drawcia slashed many more timing before sighing from frustration. "Unbelievable!"

"So we came for nothing huh…" Marx finally broke his silence, he was disappointed. Yet at the same time, it seemed as though it were no surprise to him, as though somewhere deep inside he felt failure pinching at him from the beginning.

"Hush up! We need to try other things!" Dark Mind snapped. Marx moaned.

"Silence! There must be another way, let me think!" Nightmare hissed.

"Face it, we came for nothing! Shield probably doesn't deem us worthy! It's the only reason it would block us, otherwise the real challenge would have been inside and we would have been facing it already!" Marx bellowed.

"Stop it! All of you!" Drawcia shouted. They all began to argue.

"How dare you taunt us!" Galacta Knight growled under his mask and continued to study the shield. He didn't feel like partaking in the arguing next to him.

Magolor just felt defeated, come all this way and the shield rejects you. He figured he wasn't worthy anyway. But something yearned for freedom, and if he couldn't get that; He just wanted to die…again. It's as though the world around him was mocking him, to struggle and mess up all your life and then when you finally are within reach of a second chance, a wall is in front of it. He did not realize when he started walking, he passed his bickering allies. He felt something as if the blue force field was calling him.

Approaching the shield, he passed Galacta, who took little notice of him. The blue…like the color of the sky on Popstar, oh how he loved that place, the lush green grass and hills, the wispy white clouds and colorful flowers. He wanted paradise not this underworld, he just wanted to be happy. Popstar gave him what Halcandra didn't: happiness. That's all he wanted in life, to be happy…but he couldn't have it, he couldn't get it either. The force field was in his face now, closer and closer he could almost feel the energy. Before he knew it, the blue tint disappeared and the temple was down the stone pathway. The bickering behind him ceased, his allies stared at him in bewilderment. Magolor had now realized what he had done.

"Can't you just walk through it?" Magolor turned and called out back to them. He saw Marx come toward the shield but he could only press against it. The other got the same effect.

"Just go on! You got all the keys last time didn't you?" Marx called out. Magolor hesitantly obeyed the command and continued down the path, approaching the entrance.

_How come only I can come through?_ Magolor thought.

* * *

><p>The darkness was warm but unsettling, Magolor turned around from where he came but could no longer see the entrance, it was as though he were floating in the abyss again.<p>

_Just like when I first got here._ He thought. And when he first got here, it showed him memories. God, how he hated that word…since ninety five percent of it was dreadful. A faint, white square appeared before him, floating. An image began to appear: he could see the Lor Starcutter fleeing into a portal with a four headed orange dragon breathing fireballs fiercely at it. _Landia…_ This was when he failed to get the crown from her and had to flee. Typical, the abyss would show him his failure.

More squares appeared behind it showing him pictures and memories of Popstar. When Kirby and his friends brought all the Lor's pieces back, and when they finally left for Halcandra. Magolor saw the excitement on his own face at the time, a time when he was unknown of his awful fate; Magolor was standing next to Kirby and had never been so delighted in his life. Magolor looked fondly at the memory and smiled under his scarf. Someone in his life, aside from Aureole and Marx, helped him and was actually willing to be his friend! He remembered when it felt so warming to feel friendship even in an unknown world. Shame a foreign world was more kind to him than his own…home.

But then the image changed to when Magolor obtained the crown, the Defeated Landia on the side and Kirby and his friends in front of him. Magolor saw the bewilderment on their faces when Magolor revealed his plans to him. But his plans came out twisted and more deranged than they actually were. He almost hated seeing his wizard form at the time. Everything changed that day, if only he just put the crown down. This would have never happened.

_But then I would have been killed, or force into hiding on Halcandra!_ He pondered. But the Lor could have provided him with everything he would ever need, he could have taken Aureole and left Halcandra. But the crown moved itself onto his head, surged it's glorious power into his body and took control. _It's not my fault…_he denied…_It's not my fault!_ He shook his head.

"But you played your part in it." A voice spoke out, cold and somewhat sad.

"You!" Magolor recognized it. The voice from when he got the first key.

"You betrayed Aureole to get your desires of freedom, broke your promise to her. You betrayed Kirby to get the crown-"

"But I did it for a good cause!" Magolor argued desperately.

"Was it worth it? In the end you got next to nothing accomplished. You saved no one, you only caused pain." A new square appeared before Magolor, in the image showed Aureole. Her face was buried in her brown gloves, sobbing to no end. "Behold what your best friend has been doing for the last two months in your absence!" the voice said crossly.

"I-I….I"

_He doesn't need her! He got limitless power! Even the universe almost!_ A cold, high pitched voice bellowed.

"Who's…..the Master Crown?" Magolor looked around desperately. No one would appear however.

_I gave you power!_

"You made me selfish! You made me into a demonic monster!"

_I could give you glory and rule over all!_

"Something I would never want! I would be my own worst enemy!"

_YOU WOULD BE A GOD!_

"I would be a monster! I WOULD BE YOU!" Magolor shouted, breathing heavily. This everlasting battle with the Master Crown had to end.

_You need me!_

"I don't need you! Go to Hell!"

"He's already there, so are you." the voice jumped in.

"Shut Up!" Magolor barked.

"The reason you're here truly is because of the crown." The voice ignored Magolor's growing anger. "You died with a corrupted soul because of the crown, and for that you were sent to the inferno." Magolor's expression soften at the realization.

"So this is all the Crown's fault, no surprise…" Magolor responded bitterly.

_Fool! The only reason you're getting a second chance is because of me! I got those keys, not you!_

"You only got the forth key yourself. I used you to get the others…" Magolor said despondently. He clenched his fist "But I'm not using you this time!" he growled.

_What? Fool you are helpless without me!_

"What do I need to do to get the last key?" Magolor called out to the voice, ignoring the crown.

"Accept your mistakes as you cannot change the past." The voice said. "Let them be lessons to you…they will only haunt you if you don't face them" Magolor jumped a bit at the request, but it needed to be done. He sat down and closed his eyes.

Magolor screwed up, but was about to get an extra life. He can go back and fix what he could, but he wasn't exactly aiming to be a hero like he intended before. He sighed in disgust with himself. His plan was stupid and doomed to fail from the start, trying to make daydreams beyond his reach a reality. Did he really think he could beat the Metal General and free his people? Ha, it was like trying to live a happy fairytale on a miserable volcanic wasteland like Halcandra. In fact following his dreams may have been his problem, immersing himself in them as a way to escape his harsh reality, then to come back and try to make it real. Daydreaming and planning took away most of his childhood, trying to make his dreams real took away his life. Some people can make their dreams come true; Magolor wasn't one of them though.

_Wake up!_ The Master Crown growled. _We need to obtain this key! _Magolor got up, but his eyes remained shut.

"Magolor…" The voice said. "Have you come to a sudden epiphany?"

"Yeah…I was trying to do the impossible. I pushed reality away for my fantasy, I pushed away and used people to try and get my own dreams. I was pretty selfish, even though I thought I was trying to help people, It was for my own gain. To make myself feel good because I hardly knew what being happy was like. Because of isolating myself in my own world….I saw friends as tools. I saw glory as happiness." Magolor lamented. "This is what I felt inside of my soul, my mind and conscience just covered it up in some façade that I could be a savior. So maybe I did want peace, but I also didn't want to be weak which was what I felt as a child. The world did some things to me that I felt helpless against and I wanted to be in control and stop that!" Tears fell from his eyes. "If I can just get a chance to maybe apologize to even if it's just one person for what I did-"

_Oh please! Why apologize, what done is done! They will never forgive you!_ The crown taunted.

"I can try you stupid crown!" Magolor snapped. His eyes opened, they were furious.

_Don't snap at me! I am your master! I gave you everything and I can take it away!_

"Go ahead, dealing with you was like dealing with the devil! You're probably Satan HIMSELF!" Magolor screamed at the top of his lungs. Hyperventilating, his voice was echoing. There was silence. The floating memory squares disappeared one by one, Magolor looked around in awe, what was happening? The darkness started to take a dark green tint.

"If you want this key Magolor," The voice said. "You must face the very thing keeping it from you…"

"Myself?" Magolor asked.

"No…you are no longer the obstacle. It is now the very thing that has been helping you all along." The voice faded away. A dense dark fog enveloped the area. Magolor coughed a little, adrenaline flowing his veins. It fog swirled around him in a very large circle. Frightened indeed because he knew what it was that helped him, the Master Crown.

The ground began to rustle; a large grey light appeared in front of Magolor on the ground. He stepped away from it, a large creature began to emerge. It had grey horns like a rams, two grey gaseous wings, black pointy hands with pink hexagonal emblems, two white eyes and a broad smile with a bloodshot eyeball inside. It made shriek at Magolor and shook the ground in the process. The demented, now silver and horned Master Crown sat on top.

"No…." Magolor remembered that smile…it was painfully forced on his face in mirror. This was the monster that he transformed into, the monstrosity the crown created out of him. Magolor clenched his fist, it was the monster that split Marx in half and almost killed him. His anger was boiling, remembering Marx's exhausted face and bandaged wounds.

"Behold your soul Magolor! What has been living inside you for quite some time! I simply brought it out of you for my use." The crown crackled. Magolor was a mix of furious and petrified, both feelings kept him frozen in place.

"That's not me! Not anymore!"

"Foolish Child I will show you who is dominant!" Magolor Soul created star portals at both Magolor's side. Magolor turned around too late to escape however, a brown beam burst its way into him from both sides. Caught in the powerful stream, he screamed in unrelenting pain and agony. The electricity made him feel as though he were on fire. Soul's laughing was hysterical.

The beam dissipated and Magolor dropped to the ground. His regal outfit tarnished and his cape with gaping holes, barley intact. He moaned in pain, struggling to get up. His body throbbed and begged him to lie back down, Magolor refused however. It would simply show his defeat and weakness. He swayed, seeing double of the wretched monstrous Soul.

"Admit it boy! You need me and that I am your master!" It laughed triumphantly.

"N-No… y-you…aren't…my…m-master!" Magolor shrilled weakly. The pain was sudden, the beam was from above now. Magolor bawled louder. The beam disappeared and Magolor dropped again moaning. His body felt more and more drained and weak, he would die soon and he knew it. But he held on, for that key. If he couldn't leave, then he wanted Marx to still have a chance!

Soul approached Magolor's limp body he stretched his diabolical hand and wrapped it around Magolor and holding it up to his face. Magolor want to struggle and fight, but he was too weak. Soul giggled at the Halcandran.

"Pathetic, weak… accept me and accept you need my power."

"No…" Magolor lifted up his head and glared at not the creature, but the Master Crown with his tired golden eyes. Soul applied pressure to his grip, Magolor groaned in discomfort. Desperate, Magolor only knew thing that could potentially get him out of this death grip. It was almost silly, but it was worth a try. He pulled down his white scarf and hulked up and spat one good glob of saliva at the face of Magolor Soul. Soul groaned in disgust, but did not let go. Magolor used both of his tarnished mitten hands and grabbed the crown's horns.

"This is for Marx…and the hell you caused me!" He applied his last bit of strength and pulled the crown away from the creature's head. Soul moaned in pain, releasing Magolor and the crown. Both were plummeting to the ground as Soul's body began to destroy itself. Light piercing out and eating away at it.

Magolor felt as though he was flying he was falling so slow, the crown had reverted to its golden state. It's gem glowing all the colors of the rainbow, shaking violently as though it would explode. Magolor shut his eyes, he was sure he was dying his second death. But it would be somewhat worth it, he did something good that actually had a good effect.

"Well done Magolor…" It was the voice.

"W-what…about the….key." Magolor asked faintly, he landed on the ground softly. His body was battered and bruised and his clothes were torn all over, he coughed up a bit of blood and sighed. The fog disappeared and the darkness became black.

"Oh…I will lower the shield for your allies to obtain it, you have done enough. Rest… be assured you will not die a second death."

"How do you know?"

"You have proven yourself worthy of a second life, surely I would not let you perish!" It said in a more gleeful tone. The last thing Magolor heard was a loud ping of metal dropping to the ground, the crown rolled toward and emerged in his clouded vision. The gem had stopped flashing and a crack slowly appeared on it. Its gem's red color faded to grey. Magolor let out a sigh with relief and closed his eyes.

* * *

><p>The shield around the temple slowly faded… then completely disappeared. The group had stared in awe, then all rushed toward the entrance immediately.<p>

"Did Magolor gain the key?" Drawcia asked, following the others.

"He should have if the shield is gone, I hope he did… and I hope he's alright…" Marx looked downhearted as he ran. He had been constantly trying to reassure himself since he had been standing waiting on his friend to return.

The temple's inside was sand-like brick and it wasn't that large. The ground was a smooth bronze. Pillars were on sides, a dim bronze as well. In the middle of the room was a small altar and there sat a purple key. Below the stand it was sitting on, was a critically wounded Magolor and a cracked Master Crown. Marx's eyes widened and he shrieked, pushing through the other villains he rushed to his friend's body.

"Magolor? Hey! come on!" He nudged the Halcandran, the body was motionless. "No…" Marx closed his eyes and a tear slipped down. The group stood with a moment of silence, Nightmare lowered his head.

"Poor thing…" Drawcia whispered to Dark Mind who nodded. No one could really tell how Galacta Knight felt under his mask, chances are: he probably didn't really give a damn, didn't know Magolor for that long anyway.

But the body twitched, it was quick but enough for Marx to notice. He stared at the Magolor as a grey dust began to envelop him. Slowly the wounds started to heal, his clothes seemed to be repairing itself. When the dust cleared, a few cuts and bruises remained but his clothes were as good as new. Magolor opened his golden eyes slowly, he looked around dazed. He turned slowly, toward Marx. The two looked at each other in disbelief.

"M-Marx! errr…hey." Magolor grinned. Marx returned a broad smile slowly and started to giggle.

"I…I knew you could do it." Marx tried to brush off a bit of the overwhelming contentment and relief within him. Even at times like this he had and image to keep up.

"Good to see your alive Magolor." Nightmare approached the altar and grabbed the purple key above them. Seems like Nightmare expected this outcome, he rejoined the others and started discuss plans, Marx remained at Magolor's side however.

"So…did you fight some monster or what?" Marx asked, Magolor's grin faded under his scarf.

"I fought…I fought myself…my…soul." Magolor replied softly. A chill went up Marx's spine. Magolor Soul didn't exactly leave a good impression on him nor Marx Soul.

_Wait…but if he fought his own soul, then the crown must have… _Marx pondered. Magolor looked away for a moment, Marx's eyes followed his direction and met with the broken crown, cracked, beaten and battered. Marx didn't know how to feel at this point, and he felt a burning, blazing anger inside of him. But he himself wasn't angry at all, it was most likely Marx Soul. Damn demon lusted for that Crown's power all this time, keeping dreams that even Marx didn't want anymore. Marx just wanted to get back at Kirby, he could care less about what happens to Popstar at this point. But Marx Soul was once Marx's own soul and still kinda is…this can also mean Marx didn't let go of his old ambitions…completely anyway.

"You broke…you broke the crown." Marx just didn't know how to comprehend this. But he did feel some relief that it would shut Marx Soul up about stealing the crown. "But no crown also means you're powerless and Nightmare will…"

"But I got all the keys! I should get let off the hook shouldn't I?" Magolor asked with panic in his voice. Marx was silent for few moments, he shook his head.

"The only way to find out …is talk to them." Marx looked over to the group, they were chattering away in pure bliss of the freedom they were about to about to obtain. Magolor got up and dusted off his cape, he looked at Marx with apprehension. Marx made a nervous smile in return, and they slowly walked over…to an uncertain fate.

**-End of Chapter 10-**

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Mini Note:<strong>

**Finished and posted at 1 A.M. and I'm proud. Only a few chapters left...  
><strong>


	11. Chapter 11: Surface World

**-Chapter 11-**

They could only stare at Magolor in disbelief. The inert, cracked Master Crown sat in his mitten hands, stripped of it shining beauty. Magolor had a pit of butterflies in his stomach and he felt like he would just vomit. Marx had explained issue and the others grew silent for a moment

"You couldn't be more careful with the crown! Reckless idiot!" Dark Mind barked furiously at Magolor. "Nightmare, surly a punishment must be done for such a reckless action!"

"Oh shut up! He got most of the keys for us. The most we should do is-" Marx stopped for a moment, if he said let Magolor go he would not hear the end of it. "Er…leave him to die in space!"

"WHAT?" Magolor squealed in disbelief. Marx quickly turned around and winked at him. They all looked at Nightmare, brushing his chin.

Nightmare stared at the ceiling hard. He was clearly agitated, as deep down inside he wanted that crown's power from day one, but he kept his lusts to himself. He could have used the crown through Magolor as he was obedient to Nightmare and he knew how to conduct the Master Crown's power well. Controlling the boy to do his bidding wouldn't have been too much of a problem. The only thing to really worry about was the crown's "mental" issues. But was there a way to fix the crown though? And then the question of how would they?

"Leave him behind!" Dark Mind growled. Drawcia seemed to be staring into space at the moment. She doesn't really care what happens to Magolor. She was just happy she was finally going be free from here. The world will soon become her canvas again. Galacta Knight also really doesn't care what happens to Magolor; in fact he was annoyed they were even arguing about what to do with him. It's obvious he is weak now, just kill the boy and move on.

"Or…send him home to suffer on his miserable planet." Marx gave a sinister smirk. "A fitting punishment when you think about it, He will just work himself to death on the factories and return to the inferno! Problem solved! Added suffering for those of you who wanted him to also." Marx concluded his plan, Magolor was breathing heavy. He hoped Marx knew what he was doing.

Nightmare smirked, at the idea. _Send him back to Landia…. _He thought. An evil grin appeared on his face. "I have come to a decision! I am afraid I will have to let Magolor go." He declared in a stern, leadership tone.

"What?" Dark Mind sounded surprised.

"Oh thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Magolor said with quick breaths.

Marx eyed Nightmare suspiciously. _Nightmare? Sparing the weak and helpless? He musta had some serious…_

"But, you must return to Halcandra and give the crown back to Landia. Own up to your crime." He pointed an accusing finger at Magolor, who quickly slumped to the ground. Gripping the crown tightly, a wave of fear shot up Magolor's spine. But he knew the time would come when he had to face Landia on the surface anyway.

Dark Mind looked agitated still, but it was better than letting him off the hook completely. _At least Landia will tear him to shreds._ He thought viciously.

"If the bickering has ceased, may we return to the land of the living?" Galacta Knight asked, slightly impatient.

"Yes, the time is long over do." Nightmare opened his dimensional cape and the 5 keys: grey, light blue, green, red, and purple floated toward the one of brick sand walls in the back of the temple. They began to trace a circle in the wall before all the keys disappeared after completing it. A twisted image began to become clear…

The group gazed in awe as they saw the image complete itself. It was deep in space, a swirling dark mass was there. But it wasn't a black hole…

"Dark Star…home of Zero and all Dark Matter." Nightmare said pleased at the sight.

"Didn't that star get blown up by Kirby years ago?" Marx said looking puzzled at the sight.

"Darkness can never be destroyed boy! Matter can never be destroyed either." Dark Mind proceeded to belittle Marx. Marx glared fiercely at the fiery mass; he was getting really tired of Dark Mind berating him.

"The time has come." Galacta Knight spread out his white wings. Determination on his face spiraled gracefully into the portal, making ripples inside of it. Drawcia and the others moved slowly toward it.

Nightmare stopped midway in entering the portal, Dark Mind stopped near him. "Marx…" Nightmare called back toward the two villains left on the ground. Marx looked up, surprisingly bored.

"Yeah I know; you wanted to escort Magolor home first. Figured you would ask me, since the others would probably kill him or-"

"Glad you know." Nightmare said before completely entering the portal. Dark Mind gave one last scowl to Marx and Magolor before going through himself. Marx spread out his golden wings; he looked back to his friend. Magolor was holding the crown in one hand and holding his head with the other.

"You alright?" Marx asked quietly. Magolor moved his hand to look at Marx, the halcandran was worried about a lot of things. "Hey look it was the best I could do, the other would have-"

"I know…" Magolor cut him off in a soft tone. "I'm just…a bit scared ok?" He moved toward his friend. "I don't know what Landia will do to me…"

"Try and kill you." It came off a bit more casual than Marx intended. But the answer was pretty obvious.

"That's what I hope, but I don't expect it…" Magolor looked at the portal despondently.

"What do you mean? With all the trouble you caused to her, that's what's gonna happen. At least that's what I would expect her to do."

"Landia is vengeful; she will probably seek out torturing me and find a worse punishment that death Marx." Magolor lowered his head. "Maybe its better I stay here, like what Dark Mind said…"

"No! You won't survive here without the Master Crown… and why would you want to stay here anyway? Look Magolor I'm sorry but…you can't stay here. Everyone in the inferno is hostile and without the Master Crown…" Marx let his heart sink, maybe it was better to push the let-him-die-in-space idea. At least Marx could have snuck out of Dark Star and dropped him off somewhere…

Magolor shook his head. Marx was right; for one thing Magolor would be alone down here. If he didn't waste away, something would kill him. Guilt and pain of his past would follow him forever and the regret that he turn down the chance to right his wrongs would also follow Magolor. "Fine…" He latched on to Marx's back. "I have to face the music at some point don't I?" He snuck a playful grin on his face.

"Guess so." Marx flapped his wings, slowly lifting off the ground. It was about time they left here. This inferno had smothered all of their dreams, now it was time to take them back and leave. Marx took a deep breath, there were times he thought he wouldn't make it out of Hell. But he made it…and now the exit was right in front of him. He exhaled and rushed through the portal, it closed as soon as he passed through completely.

* * *

><p>The surrounding area was completely black, the clouds that made up the world of Dark Star were barely visible. The air was damp and cool, a little too cool as it was almost cold. Disturbing whispers and loud bangs and booms were heard in the distance. Some of them were too close to the villains for comfort. Nightmare, Drawcia, Dark Mind and Galacta Knight stood side by side.<p>

In front of them was a large, orb like creature. It was white as snow; its eye was as red as blood. The orb had red pointed tip at the bottom of it. It had two, large segmented wings, tapered off red at the end. A bright yellow halo floated on top the creature's head, a bandage was under it. By the angelic creature's side were black clouds with single red eyes. They were Dark Matter.

"Good to finally see you again Zero." Nightmare said pleasantly. "Or should I say Zero Two?" The angelic creature simply stared back; no one could tell what Zero was feeling unless he spoke it in his tone of voice. All they knew was that he hated joyous worlds with a vengeance. Zero moved his eye, looking for something that may have been missing.

"Where is the crown?" Zero asked and in low, eerie voice. "Did you not say a new member had obtained the Master Crown?" Nightmare covered his face with his hand in embarrassment. Dark Mind groaned in the back.

"He died." Mind didn't care where Magolor may have ended up; he didn't even want to hear his name.

"Don't lie to me." Zero said blankly, he could see right through most lies. "What happened to the Master Crown?"

"The child who had the crown obtained most of the keys…and ended up destroying the crown at the last temple. So we sent him to Halcandra with Marx to fix it while we take over other worlds." Nightmare explained. "It will be back with us soon." Zero narrowed his eye at them.

"Landia could destroy him…did you think about that?" Zero asked. Nightmare smirked.

"Yes, but she would not destroy the crown. She would simply repair it and wear it again. Then we will come to Halcandra and face Landia. All of us could easily overpower her, even with Limitless power."

Zero made a low groan of frustration. He wanted the Master Crown on the spot, not excuses as to why it shattered and had to be repaired. There were reasons he did not trust others, this was one of them. No matter, he will do away with them at some point after world domination. He just needed them now, the army was preparing. Speaking of the army..."Do you know that Popstar is preparing an army?" He asked. The others simply looked at him before bursting into laughter, Galacta Knight remained silent.

"An army? The people of Popstar could barely keep themselves together!" Drawcia scoffed.

"Pitiful bunch of low lives!" Dark Mind sneered. Zero stared hard at them in discontent, ever so serious.

"Among their ranks are Meta Knight, Kirby and seven others of his kind." Zero growled. The laughing ceased, their faces became pale.

"How do you know?" Galacta Knight broke his silence, he stepped forward.

"A month or so back, I began sending some Dark Matter as spies. They reported back every single detail. Apparently Meta Knight started this army, merging his with King Dedede's ." Zero replied.

"Of course he would, no one else on that blasted planet had the strength, courage or brain cells to do so." Galacta snickered.

"Despite their appearances and nature, Meta Knight has apparently trained them well. Fortunately, I have more than enough Dark Matter to divert the Kirbys' attention as well as the soldiers. But we must do away with King Dedede and Meta Knight-"

"Leave that to me." Galacta interrupted him. He griped his Lance tightly. "I have a title to reclaim from him."

"Very well. Nightmare, assist my Dark Matter army in picking off the troops. Drawcia and Dark Mind, eliminate King Dedede and any Kirbys in the way. Make sure the pink one is not spared of any torture. " Zero ordered. The group nodded in agreement to their assigned positions, the darkness around them swirled faster. Red eyes peeping from the clouds, staring down at the group of villains. "We invade in one hour."

* * *

><p>The space was violet-blue. Wireframe like lines made the strange abyss look like a tunnel. The stars whizzed passed them quickly, as well as strange blurry images that seemed familiar. It took Marx some serious teleporting around space before finally finding this inter dimensional tunnel. Magolor wasn't the best at giving directions, especially when he was nervous as hell and stuttering almost every time he talks. Marx found it pretty hard to be patient with him. But honestly, if someone stole something from a dragon and that person had to go back to the dragon to get the stolen item FIXED, they had all the right to be scared. Magolor held on tight to Marx's back, with the tarnished crown on his head. All sorts of thoughts rambled on in his mind.<p>

"J-Just remember, this t-t-tunnel is unstable and tends to collapse onto itself in some p-places! So we have to keep m-moving!" Magolor spoke out.

"Got it." Marx said. Marx wondered if he should go with Magolor back to Halcandra. He couldn't face Landia by himself without being killed, and his death would honestly wreck Marx's heart. Magolor damn near died again at least twice in the inferno to get those keys for everyone to escape. But once that crown shattered, they threw him out like a tissue. Once he was of no use, which brought him to his next issue.

Nightmare made Magolor repair the crown instead of killing him, which was completely out of character. Making Magolor right his wrong, Marx knew Nightmare was up to something and it wasn't just added torture to please the others in the group. Nightmare wanted Magolor to get the crown fixed and be killed to satisfy Dark Mind. Then he and the others could get there grimy little claws on the Master Crown after defeating Landia themselves. _Clever tactic Nightmare, you sick bastard._ Marx thought sarcastically.

"Magolor?" Marx broke the silence they had through the tunnel.

"Y-yeah?" Magolor spoke nervously.

"Did you like Nightmare and the others? Did you trust them?" Marx asked his friend. Marx himself never did and what respect he had for some of them diminished. Magolor was silent, he finally sighed after a few moments.

"Eh, they were alright I guess. Nightmare seemed a little nicer than the others, Drawcia too. But Dark Mind was a jerk and Galacta Knight scared me." Magolor said it innocently like a child. It amused and irritated Marx at the same time.

"But did you trust them at the end of the day?" Marx asked.

"…only Nightmare, cause he seemed like he knew what he was doing. He was the conductor of the orchestra, the ringleader." Magolor said.

"Nightmare was the one you should have trusted the least." Marx picked up speed as he said this. Magolor gave a confused look. Marx's expression hardened to anger. "Do you know why he wanted you to own up to Landia? So you could die and he and the others could take the Crown from Landia after dominating Popstar!" Marx shrilled. "Once they were done, I'm pretty sure Halcandra was next!"

"W-What? But…he…he…they!" Magolor stuttered at a loss of words.

"They were not your friends Magolor…they weren't even worth calling acquaintances. They were pure evil and only wanted you for evil intentions. It took me a while to get this but…back when you got the first key there was a reason that blob chose you.

"Why?"

"As cheesy as this sounds you were purist of heart, you were the least likely to let your second chance go to waste! I know this all sounds weird coming from me, but it's something I needed to get out of my system. You would have never known the truth about everything unless I told you!" Marx took a deep breath, he said all of that pretty quickly and it was difficult to say to begin with.

Magolor stared out into space now; it was a lot to take in. The people you helped throw you away once you were useless and betray you on top of that. Leave you to die and then take over your planet. It sounds a lot like…what he did to Kirby. _Kirby…_ That name made him cringe; it was another once friendly relationship that haunted Magolor. Because he was the one that screwed it up, as usual. His own selfish goals made him leave Aureole to suffer alone on Halcandra; his selfish desires made him betray Kirby.

Marx and Magolor stopped in front of a floating volcanic island. The heat could be felt even from the distance they were at. Lava Rivers littered the landscape; a large volcano was at the middle, sky high. With many plateaus, a city could be seen on one end of the island.

"Halcandra…my home…" Magolor whispered despondently.

"That's Halcandra, is it even livable?" Marx stared in awe at the hostile looking planet.

"I've been alive for 18 years on it, haven't I! Course it is. The factory part at least." Magolor joked. Marx giggled, they descended slowly toward the city, clouds appearing and disappearing in view. Magolor's heart was racing; he lied down on Marx's back and clung tightly. The jester was descending steadily but he was moving faster. Magolor knew if the first person they didn't face was Metal General, it was Aureole.

_You….You…how could you return me to that wicked dragon?_

Magolor's head shot up immediately. "No…No!" He whispered in panic.

"What's wrong?" Marx asked worried.

_Blasted child! Putting me back to be enslaved by her? Have you no shame in your actions!_ _After all that we have been through!_

"Don't talk like we were friends! You possessed me, and then tried to kill me!" Magolor gritted his teeth under his scarf. "You deserve the imprisonment Landia is gonna give you!"

"Hard to believe you're still alive Master Crown. As far as I see it, you put Magolor for a death sentence too. Landia is gonna fry him!" Marx snapped at the Crown, despite the fact he couldn't hear it. Marx guessed what it was saying by how Magolor responded.

"How are you even still talking to me, I swore I destroyed you back at the last temple!" Magolor shouted.

_Fool! I was put into a state of shock yes! But we now have a link, I can still tamper into you mind! _The crown snickered.

"But you can't control me!" Magolor shouted. "You won't take over me, I won't let you-" He was cut off by a sharp explosion that appear from seemingly out of now where. It stunned Marx but it knocked Magolor off of his back.

"Gah! Damn it!" Marx shook himself out of confusion. He recovered to find Magolor plummeting toward the clouds below, screaming his head off. "MAGOLOR! Hang on!" He accelerated quickly, chasing after his falling friend.

The clouds cleared and the factory land was up in flames. Large buildings and structures were burning and collapsing. The bending and snapping of metal and the screams of Halcandrans echoed through the air. Marx had to be evasive of the oncoming fiery projectiles. Magolor finally managed to stable himself while falling rather than spinning around. His eyes grew wide at the sight of his home up in flames. What happened here? Was he still in the inferno?

"No…please no! NO!" Magolor freaked. Thousands of questions and horrific images passed through his mind. Had the General done this? Did he go insane? Did Landia go insane at the loss of the crown? Where was Aureole? Was she dead? Images of her lying in her own pool of blood or burning to death kept passing in his mind. In fact many horrific images of Halcandrans dying became present in Magolor's mind. He knew it was the crown creating these mental images and intensifying the moment. But Magolor couldn't take it. The landscape became a blend of red, orange, yellow and black. The blackness eventually overcame all the other colors.

Marx pressed on after his friend, hoping to catch up so he didn't go splat on the ground. "Come on!" He whispered to himself. The city was become clearer and the people of the land can be seen running_. I'm running out of time here!_

* * *

><p>He jumped up from drifting off to sleep. The sunset gleaming on his mask, Meta Knight looked at Orange Ocean's sky. It was another nightmare of the villains returning. Normally he is able to be calm and collected even after such dark dreams. But now for some reason, this feeling of fear could not be brushed off. He held his head; he must not let fear overcome him.<p>

Then he heard something, like a cough of some sort. Meta Knight turned around quickly; he saw the cannon of the Battleship Halberd. Something was behind it, something black and gas like. Meta Knight's eyes took a deep orange tint. He grabbed his sword out of its hilt, the golden sword Galaxia materialized from the sparks. Meta moved slowly, approaching the side where the creature was. He gripped the sword tightly; he was close to it now. Something inside him told Meta Knight it wasn't something to kill just yet. He stretched out his hand and grabbed the dark mass. It felt, soft…when he pulled to look at what it was; it seemed like a black mass. Meta turned his hand slowly to reveal a red eyeball in the middle.

"What? No!" Meta Knight gripped it tighter. Red eyeball, black mass…no other than dark matter. That means… if dark matter if still alive. Then Meta Knight's dreams were true, they are returning. Dark Matter may have just been spying for them, and that means that Zero is... His eyes turned Red…he had to get everyone ready…this was it.

The ground began to rumble, the sky's orange tint turned a dark purple. Black clouds shrouded the sky. Meta Knight dashed across deck toward the captain's room, still holding tightly to the small dark matter mass. War wasn't coming anymore. War is here.

-**End of Chapter 11-**


	12. Chapter 12: Halcandra's Flames

**-Chapter 12-**

He was so close but so far. Marx knew he could reach but never catch Magolor. The Halcandran boy was plummeting toward the fiery landscape, the battered Master Crown in his hand. Marx couldn't hear Magolor's screams anymore. Either he passed out or his screams were lost in the mix of many others from the ground. Other halcandrans of all shapes and sizes running across the torched city like chickens without heads.

People carrying their children, helping others out of fallen wreckage, or just fleeing in general. It seems the lava from the rest of Halcandra broke through the city barriers, the lava rivers made canals through the city like a nervous system in a body. Some were so wide, Halcandrans had to leap over them or find an alternate route of escape. The smell of metal and fire didn't flow too well in Marx's nose, he had to swerve around debris from falling structures and the ones that were just flying full speed from an unknown direction. The ground was only hundreds of feet from Magolor now.

_I'm not gonna catch him!_ Marx thought frantically. He was right. The boy landed with a hard thud, making a dent in the concrete ground. Marx landed retracting his wings and approaching the crater. He coughed from the dust of the impact. He was really hoping the kid's soul wasn't making a round trip back to hell. "Magolor?" Marx called out. No response. The smoke cleared, Magolor was laying their motionless. Marx lowered his head, guess he was making a round trip.

But he heard a sound, it was quick at first. Marx lifted up his head, it was the sound of coughing. Instantly, Magolor shot up from his position, like waking up from a nightmare. Breathing heavy and coughing, he look around with fear. _Why am I still alive?_ He thought to himself.

_What the heck?_ Marx lifted an eyebrow. He was happy the boy was alive yes, but Magolor plummeted from the sky. Hell they were near the tip of the atmosphere, and he's not even showing any signs of pain. Even Marx in his winged form couldn't have dropped from that height without breaking a bone or two. Maybe it was the crown that saved him…

Magolor got up and dusted off his regal outfit, he looked at the crown mysteriously. The crown started to actually give off a glow. An ominous glow that made Marx a little edgy, he knew the crown was speaking to Magolor. But like it was talking in telepathy only Magolor could hear. Normally Magolor is arguing with the crown in a furious manner. But the look on his face now was as though he was intrigued. To Marx, time seemed to stand still, he was surprised Maoglor wasn't freaking out about his homeland in flames; probably didn't truly notice yet, especially with a fall like that.

Magolor's facial expression became stern, he finally lowered the crown and put it back behind his cape. Something was odd, it was as though he was in a trance. He started walking in the opposite direction.

"Magolor!" Marx called out. Magolor's body jolted in shock, he squealed and collapsed on the ground. Marx quickly rushed to his side.

"Marx…uggrgghh…What's happening?" He struggled to speak through the intensive pain. "Please don't tell me were back in the-"

"No. As a matter of fact, Magolor you should really consider moving!" Marx said wearily. "Did Landia go on a rampage when the crown went missing?" A guilty memory reared its ugly head in Magolor's mind.

"No…I actually… lied to Kirby and said she did… so he… could …. Beat her for me." He sighed after letting out that sentence, holding off the pain as best he could. "Marx…there's someone I need to find."

"Who?"

"My friend…Aureole." Magolor struggled to get up, but he slumped back down in failure.

"Oh…her...Wait a minute HER? Right now!" Marx asked in disbelief. "She's probably dead! Look around you! Never mind that! We have to get out of here!" But Magolor grabbed Marx's brown shoe helplessly.

"Marx please! Just let me see…. if she's alive. I know where to find her!" He pleaded. The pain was subsiding only a little.

"She probably isn't there where you think she is. Aureole or whatever her name is probably ran for the hills!" Marx said getting irritated at Magolor's stubbornness.

"No! She's here! The crown told me!"

"What?" Marx asked, eying Magolor suspiciously. "Why would the crown tell you-"

"I know it sounds strange, but it really wants me die in her face when we get to Landia. It wants her to be there to watch me suffer! That's why I survived that fall, so it saved me for a better death later on."

"Then why the hell would you want to bring her!" Marx snapped. He shuttered as another explosion went off in the distance.

"Because…." A tear rolled down Magolor's cheek. "Because… I can't run from her! I can't run from my fate! I want to see her one last time, even if she hates me forever! We can just take her someplace safe before I leave to face Landia! Please Marx!" The silence afterward was intense, only the explosion and screams of Halcandrans can be heard.

The jester hesitated , shaking his head. Magolor is normally not this stubborn, and what he is doing is insane; Which is also why he cannot do this alone. The villains probably won't care too much if he is late coming back. And as much as he wants to annihilate Kirby, this was just a little more important, just a LITTLE. "Fine…" Marx finally responded quietly.

The crown began to shine a little, Magolor felt instantly revived. "Thanks Marx! Thank you so-"

"We gotta move fast!" Marx interrupted him. "Have you forgotten I have an appointment with Kirby?" His face grew serious.

"Right…I'm sorry! But thanks man!" Magolor chuckled to himself, wiping the tears from his face. "Follow me!" Magolor moved quickly in the opposite direction, Marx right behind him. In the distance ahead of them was a large factory building, the moon behind it shining its normal grey hue, behind it; Watching the chaos in the city.

* * *

><p>It was hot, suffocating and dark. The only light was a few flashing red lights in select places. Jolts of electricity spark off every once in a while. The Halcandran girl was moving slowly, feeling her way around to find the exit. Holding her golden cap, the air was giving her a headache. She had already saved a few that were trapped inside the factory, back when the lights were still on. Many machines had fallen down, blocked exit routes, and killed other Halcandrans. Now it was dark, she was alone and knew she only had so little time before she died in here. The darkness was opaque as the time she had left.<p>

Aureole was really hoping she wouldn't make that fatal mistake of touching a working machine or it would be the end of her. All the people she saved insisted she come with them to flee the city. But she needed to find the others, especially any younger workers who didn't live much of a full life yet. She would look until she died herself. Aureole was breathing heavy, struggling to find any breathable air. Then she finally felt something wooden, a door? Yes it was, relief filled her.

She was expecting a breath of fresh air, instead she got a whoosh of black smoke. Gunshots were heard inside of the room. They were loud and deafening, like they were right next to her. She hit the ground and crawled inside, blinded by smoke and holding her ears from the impact of the sounds. She should have run the other way, but running in the darkness of the factory was just as bad as in here. Aureole was just waiting for a stray bullet to hit her, but one never came. She crawled straight through the room without a single scratch and reached the other end toward the door. The smoke cleared and it was a long stone hallway, a little dim but seeable. Aureole got up and walked fast, she was lucky, really lucky. The heat wasn't as bad anymore but the exit was really far down at the end of the hallway.

Somewhere inside of her she wanted something to kill her, kill her swiftly. Even after all the torment and pain she tried so hard to stay strong through. Even after all the encouragement and strength she tried to give others who suffered alongside her in the factories. She just couldn't take it anymore. All her friends in her neighborhood died years ago, horrible deaths too. Aureole held her arms and shivered like she was actually cold. The chilling, gruesome image sent cold chills up her spine. Some Halcandrans were mangled in machinery, crushed under pistons, or carried off by guards to be sent to Metal General, never to be seen again.

No one escaped death except her, no escaped Halcandra or stopped the General. Only one had tried and failed, she never saw him again. She didn't exactly know how he died, but it hurt her inside to try and guess. Aureole last saw Magolor with the Lor Starcutter on a death mission to face the general. He never got to him, she knew because the next day the general was still there. Meaning Landia probably got to him first. Probably managed to disable the ship and burned Magolor alive. Aureole felt a tear roll down her cheek, Magolor didn't get to see the defeat of the general.

She tumbled over, as the ground shook suddenly. An earthquake was putting cracks all around her. Aureole began crawling quickly toward the down, panicking as went. The cracks followed her and went up all around the wall.

"Please don't cave in! Please do not cave in walls!" she said to herself. But the walls didn't quite listen to her. The right wall fell completely backward, revealing the rest of the destroyed factory broken in pieces, up in flames with orange and black smoke rushing behind it like a hurricane. Some Halcandrans can be seen shooting and throwing bombs. "Damn Civil war." Aureole swore to herself. "Just when we're all free, stupid resistance groups turn on each other and everyone for control over the city!"

The ground shook again, knocking over Aureole again. She felt her legs move apart and the floor felt unsteady. She looked down in horror to see the ground splitting in two. It moved so fast she only had enough time grab the ledge to the left side. She saw her brown shoes dangling and a thousand feet below them was a pool of boiling hot lava. Now she needed help and there was no one there to rescue her, terrible twist in luck.

"Help! HELP!" Aureole shouted with all her might. No one came and she knew no one heard, the gunshots and bomb explosions were just way too loud. Plus no one was here anymore, she let the other flee. She heard cracks, the rock Aureole was desperately clinging to is crumbling. Even with the material her brown gloves were made of, she still felt like she was slipping. _This is it _she thought. _This is the end of me!_ She was afraid of the pain she would feel sinking into the lava, but she would be forever free in paradise. She made a sad, tearful smile under her green scarf. The crumbling continued, she closed her eyes and waited to drop, Waiting to greet death and she her family and friends again.

Finally the weak piece of rock gave way and she started to fall. But Aureole stopped short in midair, she opened her eyes. The lava only came a little bit closer below her, she felt something holding her hand. So narrowly dangling from death's mouth, the force began to pull her up slowly. Someone had heard her, but who? Probably one of the resistance fighters, at least one of them cared. It rested her down on the rocky ground, Aureole wiped the tears from her face. She slowly began to look up.

"Thank you, I guess you all finally heard someone after all of that-" She gasped when she made eye contact with her savior. The blue cap, white cape, his golden eyes stared into her green ones. "No…Magolor?"

Magolor blushed a little and felt uncomfortable chills up his spine. "Ummm….hey. Listen I know you might be upset but-" He was instantly crushed by her hug, Aureole squeezed him tight. All the while he was gone, it felt like years.

"How are you still alive? Did Landia spare you? What happened?" Aureole looked into Magolor's eyes, guilt, sorrow, and desperation filled his eyes. From his cape he pulled the worn out Master Crown to her face. Aureole gasped and let go of him. "What did you do? How did you? Why did you-"

"I know it's a lot to take in! But I can ex-" Aureole gave a good lash across Magolor's face before he could finish. Magolor looked up with a state of shock, before she smacked him once again. He rolled across the ground.

"Are you stupid? Are you CRAZY! Landia was our last chance to stop this civil war! And you killed her and destroyed the crown?"

"What! so you mean to tell me that battle outside is-…and no I didn't kill Landia! I-" She smacked the boy again.

"Unbelievable! I knew you were naïve at times, but I didn't think you were senseless! What were you thinking?" Aureole raised her hand to lash out at him again. But a creature appeared in front of her. It was a jester with yellow, crystal wings, a red and blue hat and lavender skin. His large eyes glared into Aureole's.

"Hey! Last I checked that's not how you thank someone who saved your life, a long life friend too!" Marx said angered by Aureole's actions. The Halcandran girl stepped back, eyes wide with freight.

"What is…Magolor? Who is-"

"I doubt you have a dang clue what hellfire and trouble he's been through just to get back to this dump! He didn't kill Landia, she's gonna kill him!" Marx moved closer to her.

"Marx!" Magolor said in back of him. Hoping he wouldn't kill her.

"So before you go ripping off his head, you should shut your damn mouth and hear his side of the story first!" Marx's voice deepened and his wings took a dark orange tint. Aureole looked down in guilt and sighed. The creature had a point.

"You're right." She walked around Marx to Magolor and assisted him in getting up. "I let my temper get the better of me and I'm sorry, Magolor you have to forgive me. At lot of things have been going on and I've just been stressed." She leaned on Magolor, and he embraced her. Marx smirked at the couple, deep inside he thought they were cute. Never would let anyone know that though.

"How did this war start?" Magolor asked softly. Aureole sighed.

"The general was defeated."

"WHAT! Really! But by who?" Magolor became ecstatic.

"Well it was a group of foreigners. They were racing through the factories, so I couldn't get a good look at them." Aureole scratched the back of her head.

_Wait, a group?_ Magolor thought. "Can you describe one of them?"

"Well…one was short, Kinda cute actually." Aureole smiled. "It was pink, like a gumball, red feet and stubby arms, cutest little thing." Aureole continued her description, Magolor stood dumbfounded. He knew exactly who it was, and he started going on an internal guilt trip again. He turned slowly to Marx who gave him an expressionless face. As if to say: 'No matter what the creampuff does, I still hate em'.'

Kirby had done what Magolor couldn't do. While he unknowingly started a civil war, at least the people had some freedom for a short time. There must have been parades in the streets or something, Magolor really felt like a jerk now. _And I turned on him when he saved my home! I decided to take over his own! How could I?_

"OK then, I think we should be going now!" Marx loudly, almost obnoxiously said. Aureole shot him an annoyed look for interrupting her. The ground began to shake, more cracks can be seen moving across the ground. Magolor shook himself out of zoning out and grabbed his friend's hand.

"Aureole, I'll explain everything. Please, just come with me. I know you have a lot to ask, I have a lot to tell you." Magolor said softly.

"Ok…but tell me everything and the TRUTH! No lies alright?" Aureole said wearily.

"Okay, nothing but the truth." Magolor said. The two rushed over to Marx and climbed on his back.

"I wonder if she can really handle what your about to tell her Magolor." Marx said.

"Hey! I can handle a lot of things, you have no idea!" Aureole snapped.

"Trust her Marx, she can." Magolor said reassuringly. Marx simply shrugged and flapped his golden wings. The remains of the factory began to crumble as they took flight. Aureole gripped Magolor tightly as they rose toward the sky. This would be the first time Aureole has left the city.

* * *

><p>It was a tall volcano spire; no one could see the entire thing staring at it from the bottom. Around it was the hostile land of Halcandra, magma and red rock everywhere. Halcandrans can be seen scattered across the wasteland. Magolor's heart raced as Marx came closer to the Volcano, like it was going to explode out of his chest. He had just got done telling Aureole everything, from landing on Popstar to leaving the inferno. She was appalled at some of the thing Magolor had done like trick Kirby into getting the crown from Landia (though originally for a good cause.)But was also impressed at how he managed to battle with notorious villains, face his inner demon, and still return to save her. But what Aureole was unhappy about, was Magolor going to face Landia…alone.<p>

"Magolor, NO. You cannot go there alone. You really want her to kill you, don't you?" Aureole asked him sternly. The wind was blowing against their faces.

"Aureole, this is something I have to do alone." Magolor replied calmly.

"Now while I would tell Aureole to leave you alone Magolor." Marx began below them; they were riding on his back. "Even I think it's pretty dumb to go alone. You against a four-headed dragon? Without the crown? You really don't stand a chance."

"Who said I was going to fight her?" Magolor asked slightly irritated. "I'm just gonna give the crown back and say I'm sorry."

"But you yourself said Landia is vengeful, she's gonna kill you and not give a dang about you pleas for forgiveness!" Marx responded.

"Then I can at least say I tried!"

"Here you go with this whole I'm gonna be a dead hero thing! You really want to be something special don't you?" Aureole said coldly.

"It's NOT about being a hero!" Magolor growled.

"So what is it then? You're not gaining anything from this, you're losing everything!"

"Why are you looking at it like I'm being selfish or careless? I was before but I'm different now. Aureole I had nothing to lose to begin with, I lost everything once we got sent to the factories."

"No! You left us! Me, your friends who were suffering, Halcandra… any hope -"

"There was no hope! And there isn't any more right now than there was before!" Magolor raised his voice louder, losing his patience. "There's nothing on left Halcandra, but my fate. And I have no idea what it is." His voice trailed low at the end. Aureole started to cry. Magolor wanted to hug her and comfort her, he also wanted to choke her. Both conflicting feelings allowed him to do neither.

Marx just sighed, he was happy they stopped arguing. Marx knew Aureole was making up excuses to let Magolor stay with her. But sometimes Destiny and fate have other plans for people. Marx thought he could rule Popstar, Destiny slapped him across the face and told him _Hell no,_ then it sent Kirby and gave him the finger. They were just above the Volcano now.

"Marx, go hide somewhere. Drop Aureole in a safe place and you can go free." Magolor said in a determined fashion.

"Magolor-…hey!" Marx was shock to see Magolor leap off of his back. But rather than falling, he was descending slowly. "You mean to tell me you could float this entire time!" Marx called down.

"I don't do it often, but yeah!" Magolor called back as he descended. Aureole was sobbing and drenching Marx's back. Marx was annoyed by it to begin with, but the second he felt his hat start to get wet, enough was enough.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Quit soaking my hat!" Marx snapped. Aureole paused for a minute before continuing to sob even louder. Marx groaned. "Nervous wreck!" he muttered insensitively. He spiraled away, but hid behind the bordering rocks, eying the area Magolor landed in.

Half the place was covered in lava the other half in dry, sandy rock. Magolor stood there nervous as ever, He had all the right to be. Marx wondered if he should remain at Magolor side, seeing the boy isn't going to survive.

"W-w-e should help him…" Aureole stuttered while wiping the tears from her face.

"No...I wanna see how this plays out first." Marx said calmly.

Flapping was heard, flapping of strong wings. Magolor felt an intimidating wind trying to blow him over. From the sky, four dragons descended, they were orange with blue eyes. Cute and small, but they contained a lot of power. Magolor gulped, before he could pull out the crown, one of the dragons roared. It began spiraling toward him, Magolor barely had enough time jump out of the way.

"Wait, Landia! Just listen for a-" one rammed into Magolor in his back, knocking him to the ground. The Halcandran stood up, before another instantly rammed into him again. The dragons furiously threw themselves at him, knocking Magolor back and forth. Each time he stood, he fell. Every moment he tasted air, he tasted rock and hot sand shortly afterward. One dragon managed to knock the crown from him, it bounced across the ground. Every hit, a piece chipped off. Magolor shuttered, now he knew he was finished. Aureole was screaming for them to stop and shaking Marx to let her help her friend. But Marx ignored her and continued to watch, as if concentrating. Waiting for Magolor to do something, something that may prove a theory he just came up with.

Magolor was beaten til he couldn't even get up, Landia should have killed him by now and he knew it. But he was alive, in pain. He could hear the crown's weak laughter at his misery, at his own agony. Taunting, laughing, echoing in the Halcandran's brain. Magolor was becoming infuriated, he wish he could make a shield, like back during the time he was a wizard. Back when he had control, when he wasn't weak. He put his hands up as another dragon came for him. He knew the dragon would just knock him down again, but he just wanted to dream. To just imagine, the power. He believed he was going to die again anyway. The dragon came closer and closer, looking dead into Magolor's shut eyes. Magolor for once liked the darkness he closed himself into, but on the outside he felt vulnerable, fragile. Anticipating the hit he was going to take.

But he heard a shriek, a creature's shriek. So loud it scared Magolor into opening his eyes . The volcanic and land the Dragons in front of him were tinted blue and it was blurry. One dragon was on the ground trying to recover. He blinked a few times before realizing something was in front of him. In front of the boy was a large blue star, cut in five pieces with a separate star on each. Magolor smiled, for once a dream of his came true. The dragons tried to continue their assault but now it was doing nothing to Magolor. In fact, the dragons couldn't even touch the Halcandran, even from behind. Magolor smiled under his scarf. He looked toward the Master Crown a distance away, broken even more than before. He no longer needed for self defense.

Marx smirked, he figured the crown could only talk to him at best. The reason Magolor survived this long in the battle was not because the crown was protecting him. But the Bond that he developed with the crown (although a bad bond.) allowed him to absorb some of its power. Maybe rather than having a conversation with the Crown after his fall, Magolor was unknowingly absorbing some of its power. As to what triggered Magolor to do it, Marx can't figure that out.

Just then, one piece of shield chipped, shocking Magolor out his amazement. Marx's smirk was quickly whipped clean from his face, this also proved the next part of his examination. Magolor didn't exactly absorb every single power the crown has, which is limitless by the way. Plus Magolor versions of the abilities are much weaker, and it might give him some serious fatigue if he strains his powers too much.

Magolor started to run, with some of the shield still intact. Landia chased him, spiraling and trying to diminish the shield. Magolor had to reach the crown and show it to them, so they could stop trying to kill him. He heard a loud explosion behind him, Magolor turned to see the dragons spiting fireballs now. To make matters worse, now half of his shield was gone! The crown was so close, another deafening explosion went off behind him. Now there was less than a third of his shield left.

_Come on! Come on! _Magolor hustled himself, panting. Just 15 more feet, that distance would prove too long before he was incinerated. _What else can I do? _Then it came to him: teleporting. Magolor shut his eyes. _Just imagine yourself there._ _Calmly, swiftly, quickly, in front of the-_

Another explosion went off behind him, now his shield was completely gone! Magolor didn't look back though, he needed to concentrate… to imagine himself not in one place but another. He felt his body start to squeeze.

"Magolor!" Aureole shouted in the distance. The fireball was just behind the boy. It reached its target, exploding on impact. "No!" Aureole shouted. Marx remained silent, something was up. The dust and fire started to clear. But nothing was there, no dust or corpse, nothing. The dragons lowered themselves to the ground, thinking their enemy was defeated. But one started looking around, something was wrong.

They heard a strange sound, one quickly turned around and there was Magolor behind them, Master Crown in hand. Magolor's clothes were black with ash and burns, his normally white cape was black and ripped at the bottom. The dragons growled at him, slowly moving closer. But Magolor did not move, he held out the crown forward. "I know it's in pieces, but it was better than keeping it where I was…" Magolor placed it on the ground and stepped back.

The Dragon in the front moved forward, it stared at the crown, then Magolor. The battered crown suddenly rose, placing its self on top of the dragon's head. As soon as it made contact, a bright glow surrounded it. Magolor shielded his eyes from the bright glare, as did Marx and Aureole in the distance. When the glow faded, all the dragon's heads were now on one body, the top head had the crown on its head. The Master crown was now as good as new, with a blue gem on top. Marx had descended to the solid ground where Magolor was, Aureole hopped off his back and ran to embrace her friend.

"Black is a nice color on ya!" Marx giggled. Magolor looked to his friend and smiled. He then turned to Landia.

"When I originally came for the Master Crown," Magolor began. "I wasn't going to take over the entire universe, I was actually going to try and help the people in the cites. But rather than asking, I tried to steal it from you. I stole the Lor too, and this was only the first thing wrong on my part. Then I tricked someone to get the crown for me, second thing wrong. When I placed the crown on my head, it brought out my other personal desires. Ones that changed my goal completely. I didn't realize it until it was too late though." Magolor lowered his head in shame. "So I decided I would go though the inferno and return to the surface world to give back what wasn't mine. Power corrupts, only people with strong wills could control it and use power for good. I wasn't one of those people. I'm sorry Landia. You can do what you like with me now, I deserve it."

Landia's heads looked at each other in surprise, then looked at Magolor. They were surprised he would even try to come back, to return the crown too. Aureole stood by Marx, who looked on with some nervousness in his face. After all of that, Landia can't seriously still want to torture Magolor. Marx wanted to intervene so badly, but no decision had been made yet. The silence was unbearable, but no one would speak.

The ground began to shake under all their feet. Marx flapped his wings and hovered, looking for the source. Even Landia didn't know what this was, she was stumbling and trying to keep her balance. Over in the pool of Lava created rippled, a large object began to rise. A first it was just a red mass, it started to take on the form of a boat. It had ores and a mast, wings on the back, it's exterior start to cool from red to white. Magolor gasped once he realized what it was. The Lor Starcutter lowered its self to hover just above the lava. A door on the side of it opened and a ramp descended from it, stopping right in front of Magolor. Aureole and Marx stared at it in awe

_So the Lor did survive its attack from Kirby!_ Magolor thought, a guilty look came on his face. The ship decided to come back to him after all he put it through.

"So that's the Lor huh?" Marx whispered to Magolor.

"So then this is how it was meant." A low, understanding voice of a female said. Everyone turned to the source: Landia. "Alright, I will forgive you Magolor, as the Lor has forgiven you of your crimes against it."

"Really? So you're not gonna kill me?" Magolor sounded hopeful, not believing what he was hearing.

"I will not." Landia responded softly. Magolor and the others cheered, knowing the boy had escaped death for (hopefully) the final time. Aureole hugged Magolor to point of almost suffocating the poor Halcandran. Marx simply gave a warm, wide grin.

"But… Magolor," Landia interrupted the celebration.

"But?"

"You will not go through this…without a form of everlasting punishment." Landia said darkly. "To remind you to never do such actions of betrayal and deceit ever again, to anyone."

"But hasn't he gone through enough punishment?" Marx moved forward. "You forgave him!"

"I have, but to ensure he will never make an attempt toward the Master Crown ever again. Magolor, you are here by banished. Leave Halcandra, and never return for all of your days. Take the Lor and move away from this dimension. If you return, you shall be killed on sight."

Aureole froze and sunk back to the ground. But Magolor thought for a second, that might be a good thing. Why the hell would he want come back to Halcandra. If he didn't have to give back the crown, he would have went elsewhere to live. Magolor smiled under his scarf.

"Alright then."

Aureole turned to him in astonishment. "You mean, you're ok with that?"

"Yes." Magolor replied.

"But I'll never see you again!" Aureole panicked.

"Aureole, if you want…" Magolor said quietly. "You can come with me." Aureole was taken aback by the offer. The idea was appealing, living in a peaceful world, no work, no suffering. It would be just her and Magolor, together in….She shook her head. While it seemed appealing, she could not leave the people of Halcandra behind.

"I'm sorry Magolor." Aureole began. "But I need to ask Landia for help with…"

"Saving your people?" Landia interrupted, overhearing their conversation.

"Yes…they are all in terrible danger. They fled from the civil war and they won't survive on Halcandra's harsh lands." Aureole said worriedly. "I just want them to live and be safe." Landia grew silent as did Magolor. The poor Halcandran was now worried about Aureole and her goals, and he really wanted her to come with him. He didn't want her to see any more heartache and bloodshed. But Aureole was too stubborn. She sincerely cared about Halcandrans and Magolor respected that.

"Very well, I shall help your people. This civil war may not just affect the cities, but the rest of our home as well." Landia lowered herself to the ground, Aureole rushed toward it and climbed on its back. Once she was secured, Landia slowly flapped its wings in the air. Magolor stared at the dragon with the girl in the air.

"Aureole!" Magolor called out.

"Yeah Magolor?" She called back down.

"Be careful…" Magolor's voice trailed off. Aureole just smiled.

"I will! You be careful too. And don't worry! if all goes well, Landia will take me to find you! So don't run too far!"

"I-I won't!"

"Good-bye, until we see each other again…Magolor." Aureole said with a tear. The dragon finally pulled away to the burning city, a hint of destruction in its eyes.

Magolor stared at the ground, droplets of water falling to his face. The winds blew his blackened, ripped cape. He worked up to that moment, he survived. He gave the crown back, Aureole is going to save everyone. All is well…for everyone but him. He was now alone, no purpose driving him anymore. He was free, too free. He had a freedom he was not used to. Marx had remained silent and retracted his wings. He moved to his friend's side and gave him a warm nudge.

"Hey, come on! Everything will be fine…" Marx said softly. "You should get on the ship and get out of here before they come back."

"Marx." Magolor said choked up. "Thank you…for everything. For never deserting me when I needed someone the most. Unless you were around, I was always alone in the inferno."

Marx smiled. A warm feeling came upon him, for once Marx felt he done someone good. It was something to be proud of, it was also something he wouldn't tell anyone about though. He had an image to keep up, even if no one was looking. "You're welcome."

"Hey…what about Nightmare and the others? I'm not dead and Nightmare will come for the crown. They will probably overpower Landia." Magolor said worriedly and put his black mitten hand on his chin in thought.

Marx's relaxed expression instantly turned to irritation. He still wanted to rip Nightmare and the others to shreds for betraying Magolor after all he did for them. Now although Marx shouldn't talk because he did something similar to Kirby, Kirby did nowhere near as much as work Magolor. On top of that, Magolor was probably the only friend Marx ever had, and probably ever will have.

"They won't do anything…trust me. They WON'T." Marx said darkly, raising his voice at the end.

"Marx…what about Kirby? And-"

"Don't worry about it. I'll take care of everything." Marx growled, but his anger wasn't directed at Magolor. "I may have to do something I DO NOT like. But…if it's to save you and your world, then I'm willing to postpone my revenge on Kirby for another vendetta." Marx said strongly. Magolor must have really touched the Jester deep in a way. Anyone who knew Marx would think this behavior is not in his character. Marx spread his golden wings. "You should start heading out, just be safe in finding new home ok?" Marx gave one last soft smile to Magolor.

"I will, just be careful Marx. Please?" Magolor started up the ramp.

Marx gave a soft giggle. "I will, who says I'm gonna die? When all is said and done maybe I'll come find ya!" He winked.

Magolor returned a smile. "So long Marx, don't die!"

"So long…Magolor." Marx had disappeared in teleportation.

With his two friends gone in distance to their own motives, it was time for Magolor to be on his merry way as well. He entered the Lor Starcutter as the door shut behind him. There was the control panel inside the pure white hull. All the colorful buttons and switches, and the large monitor above it.

"Lor…I'm sorry I put you through all this trouble." Magolor said sadly. No response, but the monitor switched on. Magolor looked closer.

The Lor was shown on screen, it was a diagram of it going to a white Planet in a different dimension. Magolor stared at the screen in an interesting manner before the Lor shook. It was preparing for takeoff.

"I'm gonna take it you forgive me then! Heh-heh didn't even know where I was gonna go." Magolor joked.

The ship lifted away from the Volcano spire into the clouds. The Lor Starcutter shot away into the sky. Once it reached a far enough distance from Halcandra it stopped for a minute. The monitor flashed a rainbow star, telling Magolor to prepare for warp speed.

"Wait!" Magolor rushed by a nearby window. Peeping out, he could see Halcandra as whole out in space. An edge of the world was covered in flames from the war. Magolor sighed, he had mostly horrific memories here, but this was where his childhood the bloomed and died here as well. Memories flowed, both good and bad. The Lor slowly moved away from the planet, Halcandra became smaller and smaller. Magolor would never let the memories fade. Even though Landia banished him, he knew he would come back to Halcandra one day.

"Good bye. Halcandra…" Magolor said softly. Rainbow strands emerged from the edges of the window in space. The Halcandra was immediately consumed by them, gone. Magolor pulled away from the window, head low. He slowly looked at the monitor. The estimated trip time was a few hours, about three. Magolor knew that the Lor could be there in a snap, but maybe the prolonged time was for the better. He wanted to nap and reflect on everything that has happen to him. On top of that, he can finally sleep without being disturbed by anything…

* * *

><p>Marx reappeared in space…Popstar was right in front of him. He flapped his wings and glared hard at the planet. Popstar was a literally a giant yellow star with two rings around it. Yep, this is Marx's home, and boy he is NOT happy to see it. He rolled his eyes in disgust. Marx hated everyone on that planet right about now, save for Meta Knight; but Marx wasn't looking forward to seeing him either.<p>

But what disgusted him more, was that the bottom left part of the star planet was covered in darkness. That was where orange ocean was if Marx wasn't mistaken. The Dark Matter infestation has already started, so has the party. A third of Marx was excited and ready to have some fun in a fight, but the other two-thirds was pretty damn serious. Vengeance had to be taken as well.

**-End of Chapter 12-**

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<br>**

**Where one tale ends...another continues. Story isn't over people, but its close. A warning ahead of time: my profile often says when something will be late or if I having anything new coming up. Not to pester you guys but if I'm silent for a while, go look at it. It should tell you whats going on!  
><strong>


	13. Chapter 13: Battle of Orange Ocean

**-Chapter 13-**

He was running for dear life. Through the smoke, through the explosions, through the dying soldiers, through the flames. He was fighting under the dark clouds that covered the serene sunset. Jumping from island to island, destroying the dark matter creatures that once possessed him with his mighty hammer. The once peaceful Orange Ocean was now a raging battlefield against the darkness. King Dedede could only glance as his comrades were dropping before him like files. Where he was headed, the king himself didn't know. Dedede stopped on one of the islands and watched the dark sky.

Off in the distance of the sky, the halberd could be seen. It was shooting lasers at a large, segment winged, white bulbous creature. An eerie red eye shooting at what appears to be blood at a small object as well as the Halberd, the king couldn't tell what the object was in the distance. He shook his head. He didn't expect the onslaught to be so fierce.

On another island he could see Drawcia swirling her rainbow paint brush madly, giggling. Twirling like she was doing ballet. Around her were seven balls, the colors of: yellow, red, blue, purple, brown, green and white. Hopeless expressions on their faces, They were once Kirbys before Drawcia managed to curse away their limbs. On an island to the distance in the ocean, Dedede could see the silhouette of Nightmare, shooting stars at on coming dream landers. Some were cursed into eternal slumber, some were killed. Nightmare looked triumphant and laughed manically at the warrior's misery.

The Dark Matter army…Dark Mind, Drawcia, Nightmare, Zero Two and Galacta knight all at once. He gripped his hammer tightly to his face. A disappointed and frustrating expression washed over the King's face, a single tear fell to the ground. He knew this was over before it began.

"Disappointing isn't it?" a deep voice behind him spoke. The King whipped around to see Dark Mind floating just a few feet behind him. Mind didn't have a mouth, but his eye features seemed to form like an amused expression. "Watching your army fall before you, shame isn't it? You went through all of that training for what?"

King Dedede immediately launched himself at Dark Mind, raising his hammer high, to give him the bashing he was asking for. Mind teleported just as Dedede landed. Dissatisfied from missing, King Dedede turned around to see Dark Mind laughing at the King's futile attempt. Dedede felt his blood boil, he never felt so angry…so useless…so helpless in his entire life.

"No use fighting me. If all your Kirbys have fallen, what makes you think you have a chance?" Dark Mind snorted.

"I beat Kirby before! Don't watch the Smash tournaments on TV do ya?" Dedede responded, holding his hammer out, he began to spin. Directing his body toward Mind who, once again teleported away. He reappeared on far left of the Tornado. Dedede stopped in place but continued to spin. Suddenly Dedede's tornado stopped spinning and he flung his mallet toward Dark Mind at a quick speed. Dedede had his back turned when he landed, unable to see Mind. Dedede giggled at the satisfying TWACK! Meaning the hammer reached its target. But he could still hear Dark Mind was laughing.

King Dedede gritted his teeth and whipped around, to find his hammer, snapped in two at the base of a broken palm tree. Face palming, he pulled another mallet from his back.

"You should really work on that pathetic aim of yours." Dark Mind snickered. "Some training you did…"

"If you're gonna fight, then let's settle this now!" Dedede pointed his Hammer at the fiery eyeball. Dark Mind continued to laugh. The wind blew harshly against the King, swaying his balance. This fight may not end well should the penguin King not get any aid soon.

* * *

><p>A tan and dark orange ball like creature stood behind the wheel in the control room of the Halberd. He was a waddle dee, but most called him Sailor Dee. Right now he was acting like a captain, or at least trying to. The sweat was soaking the front of his sailor hat, he was operating the entire ship. Trying his hardest to assist the planet's well known savior fight the galaxy's darkest 'god.' He pressed the delicate buttons on the panel that active the large cannons and guns on the massive battle ship. All were aimed at Zero Two who, (if he wasn't occupied by Kirby) would be staring right through the control room window into the waddle dee's fearful eyes. Sailor Dee was moving the cursor on the screen franticly, trying to avoid Kirby and hit the eye of Zero. But it just wouldn't pop.<p>

Kirby was outside on a dragon- like air ride machine. It was pink with rainbow, feather like appendages on the end. This legendary air ride Machine was known as Dragoon, capable of flying at incredible velocities at top speed. But Zero Two was massive and gave Kirby no chance to pick up speed. Kirby was only armed with a firework launcher. That was doing little damage to Zero Two, and it was doing it very slowly, too slow. Never had the situation looked so bleak for the pink Kirby. He was sweating and starting to feel the effects of exhaustion. His Kirby friends gave away their limbs to save him from Drawcia. To get aboard the ship with Dragoon and fight Zero himself. But now Kirby was just this close to failure, to death. Kirby was very young, but he knew if he fell so did everyone else.

And that's why Sailor Dee picked up the courage to control the ship. The real captain, Meta Knight had gone off to assist the others on ground, but he never returned to the control room since. He didn't know Meta Knight is unable to reach the ground right now…

"Sailor!" a high pitched voice broke the waddle dee's concentration. That second was enough of Zero Two to get wide shot of blood on the window, the whole ship rocked from the impact.

"W-What!" Sailor Dee squealed with a hint of irritation. Sailor set the ship to auto function so it could continue shooting without guidance. He just hoped Kirby could dodge any stray shots. He turned to see Bandana Dee, determination fixed on his face.

"Where are the other Kirbys?" Bandana was breathing heavy.

"In a tangle with Drawcia. At least that's what Kirby said!" Sailor Dee managed to get out. They swayed as the ship rocked again. "Now I have no idea what's going on out there!" He sighed in desperation. "Where's Meta Knight?"

"No idea…" Bandana said despondently. The lights blinked. "I need someone to gather the pieces of Hydra downstairs and help Kirby! I need someone who knows how to drive it!"

"I can't help you! I can barely pilot the guns at Zero without hitting Kirby!" Sailor panicked. "Let alone the ship!" There was a short silence.

"What's the status of Main Cannon 2?" Bandana's tone turned serious, staring into Sailor's eyes.

"Main Cannon 2? Trashed! Zero wrecked it!"

Bandana winced, he got an idea but it's pretty risky and he would need help, something he didn't have. Doing all parts of his plan alone would be suicide. But it's better to try. He dashed back toward the door. "Where's the room where the janitor's supplies are?"

"Near the bottom of the ship, 2nd to last floor! W-where are you going?" Sailor Dee called.

"You stay here! I'm going to get the supplies and clean the window!" Bandana called back, tossing a walkie talkie. Sailor Dee managed to catch it. "I'll talk to you when I need you! Be brave! And don't die!" The waddle dee ran down the Hall corridors. _Is this bravery I'm trying to do? Stupidity? …Desperation? Or is it a bit of everything?_

* * *

><p>He was racing down the hall, panting but carrying on. Everything was falling apart in front of him and not only literally. The army was struggling and he needed to assist them, but he was in too much of a bind to leave the ship. The pipes and steel beams fell, every once in a while. Breaking the silence. Meta Knight had to swerve out of the way of the debris while avoiding him. The ship was taking enough damage as is and their battle was making it much worse. The masked knight stopped to catch his breath, searching his surroundings.<p>

Meta never thought he would never fight him again, but indeed he came back. He came back for his title, the one title Meta Knight strived all his life to possess. The title that earned Meta even more respect than the mass amount he already had. The title that would soon haunt Meta Knight for the rest of his life:

_The Greatest Warrior in the Galaxy_

Meta Knight cringed and quickly jumped from his position as a steam beam fell. He whipped off his cape, turning into Meta's two black wings. They unraveled and spread out, allowing him to watch the demolishing steel beam from a safe distance. The sound of chilling deep laughter filled the air, Meta's yellow eyes glinted under his mask and quick he raised his sword to block the incoming blow.

His instincts saved him, the force of Galacta Knight's lance pushed Meta Knight back. The two were placing much force into each other's blades to keep the other from pushing them down. Meta's yellow eyes glared into Galacta's menacing red ones. They forced each other off, both skidding back as they gained traction. Both came to a stop at the same time yards away.

They never took their eyes off each other, just waiting for one to make a move.

"Your skill hasn't deteriorated I see." Galacta Knight said. Meta Knight remained silent, Galacta chuckled silently. "I've been meaning to thank you for releasing me that fateful day, the gem was…'cramped.'"

Meta Knight's eyes narrowed. He charged toward Galacta, slashing his sword that created orange beams, heading for his target. Galacta Knight managed to dodge a few, but was hit by some. The beams knocked him back a few feet.

"You aren't anymore evasive than when I last met you." Meta Knight muttered. The ground flashed underneath him, Meta side stepped from the spot. Out came plumes of fire and lighting, enough to take out a huge chunk of HP. _Predictable._ Meta thought bitterly. "You do not even have any new powers to show me." He muttered out loud. _This is a waste of my time._ He needed to reach the ground, to the army. It was time to leave. Meta Knight raised his sword high, it glowed blue with power. He struck the ground and up erupted a blue tornado, heading straight for the charging Galacta Knight.

Meta Knight quickly rushed down the hallway, if he was going to fight, he had to keep the fight moving. Galacta was either toying with him or really hadn't obtained any new or improved skill. Lightened spots appeared everywhere at random. Meta dodged them all, swerving in the air and leaped from steel beam to beam.

_Running from a fight Meta knight?_ Galacta's taunting voice echoed. _That is quite low for you._

"I have no time for your games Galacta knight!" Meta said curtly. "If you truly wanted to fight for your title, you would have put more effort into this battle!"

_Games? Ha! I find you're the one not putting your whole heart in this. Worrying more about helpless soldiers than the title you worked your whole life for. But it is quite amusing damaging your ship, seeing it sink would be even better!_

That hit a nerve, Meta knight absolutely detested any one destroying the Halberd, Kirby was the only exception (although he was usually the one doing it most of the time). He concentrated so much on the soldiers on the ground that he forgot his battered ship could fall right on top of them! Meta Knight stopped as the fire and lightening ceased. Smoke had filled the air and in the distance, one could see Galacta's silhouette in the distance.

"STOP blowing holes in my ship and fight me!" Meta said with pure agitation and fury. The soldiers will have to wait, Meta just hoped King Dedede could get the upper hand and help who he could.

"SIR META KNIGHT!" a high pitched voice called out. Meta looked back to Bandana Dee coming toward him with towels and a spray bottle in hand, and a Spear latched on his back. He was surprisingly avoiding the remaining fires quite well. Bandana stopped in front Meta Knight, panting.

"What are you doing here?" Meta questioned softly. He glanced back to Galacta Knight, who was examining the shine of his lance.

"Zero Two's blood got on the control room window and now Sailor Dee can't see to help Kirby!" Bandana whispered, he glanced at Galacta and shivered. That knight will attack him if he stays too long. "I'm gonna clean it off alone,-"

"What?" Meta gasped at the waddle's courage. That's quite a rare quality in waddle dees. But going alone is a death wish.

"I know its suicide, but I gotta do something! Once I clean the window, I'm gonna fix Main Cannon 2!" Bandana started to leave "If you find one of the other Kirbys, please tell them to head to storage room 5 and gather the pieces of Hydra. Kirby needs all the help he can get!" Bandana Dee disappeared around the corner.

_Such bravery…_ Meta Knight smiled under his mask. Dedede was gifted to have Bandana dee as a close advisor. Meta's eyes glinted again, his sword blocked the violent beams sent toward him.

* * *

><p>The king flung back into a palm tree, his robe burned black and his hammer disintegrated to pieces. That was his sixth hammer. He swayed while getting up, slightly dizzy. Dark Mind laughed hysterically.<p>

"Such weakness From a so called 'King!' You can't even get up to fight." Mind moved closer toward Dedede. "You're quite the failure you know. If you had a leaner body, you could have been more nimble. Not to mention your outrageous gluttony! If you had been a good king, you could have been well equipped for war and maybe the people would respect you! But no…you keep everything for yourself!"

"I've done good things! I saved Dreamland from Nightmare." The king protested.

"Correction, you broke the Star Rod to keep Nightmare at bay. But you see, Kirby defeated him, not you. You yourself only at best helped a little if at all!" Mind scoffed. The king slumped down the tree, Mind got him there. "Now let us end this…" His eye glowed red.

King Dedede closed his eyes, this was it. He little to say about his life…and he failed everyone in the end. He waited patiently for the blow. But instead a shrill of pain from Dark Mind shattered the silence. King opened his eyes. Dark Mind had a shocked expression on his…eye. The King was surprised, the eyeball wouldn't move. He rose slowly from the tree. The king walked to the side slightly, gasping in shock. A gaping hole went right through the side of the Dark Mind. In a second, the corpse began to explode. Disintegrating until it was nothing.

"You have NO idea how good that felt." A high pitched voice said behind him. King Dedede turned around and gasped. A familiar jester with golden wings stared at him with huge eyes. "Now I know you've seen me before, so do me a favor and close your mouth." Marx said with annoyance in his face.

It took a second before Dedede realized his mouth was wide open. Promptly closing it, his face turned serious. "Why'd you save me?" The king questioned. "Last I checked, you were part of them!" The king pointed to the island where Nightmare was still massacring soldiers. There were piles of bodies everywhere on that island.

"Me? With them?" Marx's face turned to fury. "Not anymore, they've done some things that disgust even me!" Marx's face slowly turned to regret. "I'm no longer affiliated with them…doesn't mean I'm good. But me and you have a common enemy." Marx looked to the island scowling. "I especially have a bone to pick with him."

"Why should I trust you? In case you don't know, you gotta a lot of dirt on your record!" King Dedede glared at Marx suspiciously.

"You're not really in a condition to argue." Marx said lightly. "You're army is losing and could use some serious help." The King looked down with guilt. Marx smirked. "I hate this planet, and I'd rather take it over myself. But for the sake of a friend, I'm going to…" Marx cringed. "Save your hides and leave the planet alone for a while. There I said it!" Marx gulped. It was a lot to take in and force down his throat and Marx was known for being a promise breaker.

Dedede chuckled. "Fine, guess I gotta take your word for it. But no tricks ya hear?" The King pulled out a new mallet.

Marx nodded. "We take down Nightmare first. I have a personal grudge against him. On top of that, His moves are much more predictable." He flapped his wings and flew toward the island with great speed.

King Dedede was uneasy working with a foe, a really untrustworthy one too, but did he really have a choice. Plus Marx would have broken his promise to his friend the moment he saved Dedede if he really didn't care. He said he would save them after all. The king leaped across the small islands toward Nightmare, following his temporary ally.

* * *

><p>A loud explosion erupted on deck. Smoke and fire came from the gaping hole, Meta Knight leaped from the blaze onto the deck. His cape and part of his mask charred black. The smoke began to clear and there was Galacta Knight, floating in mid air. He raised his lance at Meta and the two charged at each other. Continuing their duel, slicing at each other in hopes of one of them tripping up so the other could finish him.<p>

Bandana rushed past the past around the corner. As much as he wanted to cheer Sir Meta Knight on, time was constricting his chances to save Sailor Dee and Kirby. Bandana had a lot of close call running through the ship. Meta and Galacta battle was never too far away from him. One minute they were right next to him, the next they were gone. It's been like that all day!

Bandana Dee avoided them, and peaked around the corner. The Main Cannon 2 was right there, badly damaged on the left side. In front of the ship was the massive Zero Two, his intimidating segment wings and red eye working their hardest to destroy his opponent. Kirby clung onto Dragoon for dear life as it swerved past the blood and shards. Kirby was bruised everywhere, the sweat glistened his skin shiny. The poor child looked limp, eyes barely open. The air ride machine's movements were so sudden and swift, it's as if Dragoon itself had swerve on its own to protect Kirby.

Kirby wasn't a particularly close friend, but Bandana felt miserable watching him suffer like that. It made Bandana realize everyone may be taking Kirby's protection for granted. Now only when he is on the brink of death does everyone realize they are deep trouble without him. Bandana slapped himself out of thought. Every second he wasted brought the Grim Reaper closer. He rushed to the Cannon and observed the damage, looks like it was mainly circuitry that got damaged. Great, Bandana would have to work with bare hands if he wanted to fix that. And then he realized he forgot the toolbox.

To go and get the tool box, would mean Kirby might be dead by the time he got back. Bandana held his head, what now? He quickly fiddled with the torn wire in a futile attempt to repair it, a jolt of electricity stung him back. The waddle dee sighed in disgust with himself. How could he forget the toolbox of all things! _Alright Bandana…_He thought silently, _Just clean the window and then go back for the toolbox._

He hopped on top the damaged cannon and leaped repeatedly on parts of the Halberd toward the control room window. The blood was abnormally dark, burgundy almost black. He hoped the blood didn't dry on it yet. Bandana latched onto the side of control building and began sprayed the left side. He was not touching anything Zero-related, since they had a habit of possessing things. Being cautious, he began to wipe with the cloth and the blood began to dissipate.

Sailor Dee watched with joy as the window began to clear somewhat.

"Don't go near the window!" a pixilated voice came from the walkie talkie. Sailor jumped when realized it was Bandana. "Blood is some really sick stuff, it's from Zero, remember?"

"Yeah I remember! Just be careful out there! You a sitting target for Zero if he gets tired of Kirby!" Sailor cautiously reminded Bandana. The wiping waddle dee wished he never said that, fear began to over take him. He groaned for a second, he asked himself why in the world was he doing this. His wiping strides became rapid; the left side was done in seconds. Sailor waved when he saw Bandana, who nodded back.

Now Bandana Dee was crawling over the window to the other side, he began wiping quickly. He felt his grip loosen a little and slid down a foot. Sailor began flailing his arms in panic seeing this. "Be careful!" he screamed. Bandana got a grip and continued to wipe the dark blood.

Bandana finished the right side, but sighed when he realized most of the middle still had blood. He crawled slowly toward the middle, Bandana could see the deck far below out of the corner of his eye. Real scary, especially with the pressure of time involved. He lifted the spray bottle slowly, applying more pressure to the hand clinging for dear life. He sprayed a little on the spots, almost there. He glanced at Sailor Dee, who looked back in horror. Bandana looked at him worryingly, but then he felt an outer force pushing his back. Pressing his face against the window, cracks began to appear. Dear lord he thought, was it Zero? The glass finally gave way as he crashed inside the room.

Sailor Dee squealed and rushed to aid his new friend, feeling slight pain from the glass shards on the ground. He reached him just in time, to pull him away from the battling knights who crashed in with him. Sailor lifted Bandana up and examined his wounds. Glass shards and blood was scattered on his unconscious face. Thankfully the blood was light, meaning Zero's blood didn't taint him in anyway.

"Sailor!" a deep voice called. Sailor turned to his captain, dueling ruthlessly with his opponent. Meta Knight had his black cape ripped, his shoulder pads dented, and half his mask was missing. It revealed a face very similar to kirby's, only dark blue with white eyes. But the eyes quickly turned dark green. "Grab the toolbox, and gather Hydra downstairs!" he was breathing heavy. With one hand he pulled the toolbox from his back, must have realized Bandana forgot it. The battle was going everywhere in the ship. Meta was facing Galacta Knight, who was also battered. He too, had half his mask broken, revealing a face also similar to Kirby's but a much darker pink. His eyes were red and mincing. Meta blocked a jab to the head with his sword. "Bring Bandana with you and wait there!"

"What! I can't-"

"Just do it! Follow my orders!" Meta Knight shrilled as his eyes became red, He ducked under a swing from Galacta's lance. Meta's eyes reverted white and his expression softened. "Someone will come for you! You have to trust me!"

Sailor Dee nodded wearily, fearing the worst for the captain. He scooped up Bandana Dee over his head and rushed down the hallway. Forcing himself not to look back at brutal battle behind him.

* * *

><p>They watched the battle silently, just waiting. It was a whole line of them: Yellow, blue, Red, Green, Brown, Purple, and White. Just limbless balls. The group had hoped their pink friend was doing well, because they sure weren't. They watched the King and the jester try their hardest to best the disgusting paint blob (or at least that's what Brown Kirby calls her.) Yellow turned to the side, a black cloak was there, a little torn on the edges. On top was a pair of broken sunshades. He stared at the cloak jadedly; he will never forget how that Jester's laser obliterated all but his cape. He wondered if it still had any power.<p>

"Wretched little TRATIOR!" a ear piercing, pixilated voice broke Yellow's train of thought. The rainbow blob bounded back, it was massive and almost landed on top of line of limbless Kirbys. Drawcia Soul screeched again and threw herself at Marx. Blobs of paint splattered on the Kirbys in her wake, much to the Kirbys' disgust.

Marx dodged the living fret train of paint and released blue arrows from his dark orange wings. The impacts made plopping sounds into the blob which moaned in agony. It disappeared violently. Surprise took over Marx, it was so sudden.

"Behind you!" King Dedede cried out. Marx turned around to see Drawcia Soul sending rainbow slices at him. Despite the paint being liquid, they sliced like knifes. Marx covered his face with his golden wings. The swift cuts made ugly lacerations on Marx's wings and multi colored scales. Marx hollered in pain and frustration.

His wings took a dark orange tint, Marx was gritting his teeth. There was a hard expanding force inside of him, like he was going to explode. _No…Soul…_He said in his mind with frustration. _Just wait…a little longer!_

A loud bashing sound, snapped Marx out of his trance. His wings changed back to gold as he unfolded them. King Dedede bashed Drawcia Soul multiple times. The blob stumbled back from the onslaught, the King was relentless in his assault. Constantly jabbing and smashing at the creature's head. Drawcia suddenly shrieked in King Dedede's sweaty face, pushing him back. The king was tumbling and spiraling across the grass. Drawcia closed in for the kill. The king recovered, lying on his back staring straight into the five eyed creature. The grin on her yellow saliva mouth was…disturbing, to describe it nicely.

But something jumped in front of the King, something round. The king rubbed his eyes, now there were seven round things. Each Kirby stared down Drawcia with a scowl, ready to ram right into her.

"Piss off!" Marx roared. He opened his mouth wide and out came a bluish beam. It headed straight for the creature's back, burning itself right through her. The beam was only centimeters away from King Dedede's nose and tips of the Kirbys' heads. The king could see Drawcia's horrendous mouth frown from defeat before her body was completely vaporized.

Marx sat down, breathing heavily. His wings retracted and his eye shrunk a little to their normal size. His jester hat ends relaxed, fangs sinking back. His body shrunk to a Kirby's size, completely reverting to normal. There were some pretty ugly cuts and bruises on his face.

A swirl of rainbow magic surrounded each of the Kirbys. When it finally disappeared, each Kirby had two, cute little stubby arms and two feet. Jumping for joy, each Kirby ran in circles, playing with each other. The King couldn't help but smile, it was cute even thought they were all related to his rival. Marx rolled his eyes, but he grinned a little as well. The Kirby's abruptly stopped when they looked at their savior's condition.

"What?" Marx stared at them back with slight annoyance. The Green Kirby pulled a medical kit from seemly nowhere. The Kirbys scrambled inside finding rubbing alcohol and bandages. They rushed over to the jester, whose wings expanded in shock. That only revealed more cuts and bruises for the Kirby to want to patch up. Marx was wiggling and screaming, the group struggled to patch him up. The King was in shock at the sudden actions of the Kirbys. The last thing Marx wanted was to do was to be tackled by Kirbys, but they were only trying to help him. His grudge was with the Pink Kirby after all, not the others. But he still didn't like the resemblance they gave off.

Dedede turned around, talking on a walkie talkie he held to the side of his head. "Yeah…uh-huh…gotcha…." He turned it off, turning back to the now bandaged Marx. White bandages around his wings and band aids on his face. The Kirbys stood around him, proud of their repair work. The King started to chuckle.

"Don't say a word." Marx said curtly. King Dedede stopped laughing, his face becoming serious.

"I got word from the captain, we need to head for the Halberd!" the king pointed to the massacred ship in the sky. "Must be a damn good multi-tasker if he can talk in a walkie talkie in one hand, and fight with a sword on the other!" He could see Yellow grabbing something from the corner of his eye, placing it in his tow.

"Who's the captain?" Marx asked with curiosity. Deep down who knew who it was but he just wanted to be absolutely sure.

"Meta Knight, the guy who helped us get prepared in the first place." Dedede said. Marx butterflies in his small stomach. Ohhh… he knew that knight was not gonna be happy to see him. That is if Galacta doesn't have him occupied.

* * *

><p>Sailor Dee stood in the room petrified. It was a small room, copper colored. The waddle dee was clinging to the wall, holding Bandana Dee's arm in one and the cart with Hydra's pieces in another. Why was Sailor Dee clinging wall? Because across from him was a large gaping hole in the ship. The stormy sky was starting to poor some seriously hard rain and lighting. Meta and Galacta were wrecking the place too. Sailor knew damaging the Halberd was one of easiest ways to become one of Meta Knight's sworn enemies.<p>

"Uhhh…Sailor?" Bandana rose from his unconsciousness. If sailor had a mouth, he would smile.

"You're ok!"

"Yeah… what happened?" Bandana glanced at the gaping hole of the ship. "Seriously!" he exclaimed. "What happened?"

"Meta knight and Galacta Knight crashed into you while you were on the window. The captain's orders were for me to carry you here and wait with Hydra's pieces." Sailor explained.

"Why wait here?"

"HEY!" a voice echoed from the outside. Through the hole , Marx rose with King Dedede on his back. Behind him was each of the seven missing Kirbys on separate stars. They waved gleefully at the two waddle dees.

"Your majesty! Isn't that-"

"Relax, he's betrayed them!" King Dedede interrupted Bandana "He's on our side, for now."

"Don't take it as I've turned good though. I have my reasons for saving your hides, but it's beyond your concern." Marx said sternly.

"Are you sure we can trust him your majesty?" Sailor asked him.

"Positive, he wouldn't have turned this battle around otherwise." King Dedede said in a gleeful tone. "I helped him kill his comrades!"

"You mean he helped you defeat Dark Mind, Nightmare, and Drawcia?" Bandana asked in surprise.

"Well actually, he only helped me with two. Nightmare and Drawcia, I had to save him from Dark Mind." Marx said as-a-matter-of-factly. The King face palmed. "What?" Marx giggled. "For once I'm telling the truth!"

_That's a miracle…_ Bandana thought with a hint of sarcasm.

"Toss me the tool box!" King Dedede ordered. Obediently, Sailor tosses him the box. The king then passed it to the Brown Kirby. "Brown, Green, purple, and red, all of you repair Main Cannon 2. Do it fast! No breaks! When you're done, head to the control room. Sailor Dee, you're gonna be in the control room waiting for them. When the Kirbys' come, you're gonna give us the signal."

"What are you guys going to do?" Sailor asked.

"We're gonna try and distract zero!" Marx answered for the King. "You're going to tell us when the cannon's ready so we can get out of the way."

"White, get on Hydra!" Dedede ordered. Deep inside, it felt good to be bossing the kirbys' around. White Kirby leaped off his star as it disappeared. He dug inside the cart and out popped the pieces of Hydra, assembling on its own. It was dragon like, green and lime green. It had scales and two long tails around it. White Kirby hopped on top, giving an army salute to the king. "Yellow! Blue! You're coming with us."

"Take these!" Bandana gave Yellow, blue and White firework launchers.

"That's never gonna kill zero, not even by the end of the year!" Marx said in slight irritation.

"It's all we got!...wait, don't you have a laser?" Bandana asked.

"I've already used it three times today, I can't strain my powers too much or else…."

"Or else what?" King Dedede asked with interest.

"Or else I'll pass out or my split personality will take over!" Marx said with some hidden apprehension.

"A split personality? So your saying, that's the evil you we've been seeing?"

"Ask Meta Knight about it!" Marx groaned. "He'll know exactly what I'm talking about! Everyone move to your places!" Marx abruptly ended the conversation. With that everyone scattered, no questions asked.

* * *

><p>He saw them…all of them, even it if it was a glance…he saw everything. Like puzzle pieces moving into place. In the air, Kirby sat with a new firework launcher on Dragoon. Next to him was White Kirby on Hydra, Yellow and Blue Kirby on warp stars, shooting as well. Above them was a river of blue arrows and randomly thrown hammers, spiraling in the air. This was all Marx and Dedede could really do at this point. The rain was pouring hard, drenching everyone.<p>

Sailor Dee and Bandana Dee watched the battle from the control room. It was crystal clear due to the fact that the window was no longer there. Sailor could almost feel his heart beating right out of his chest. He clung to Bandana, who kept a serious, worried face.

On deck, the four Kirbys of Brown, Green, Purple and Red used multiple tools and were repairing the Main Cannon 2. Meta and Galacta were batting right next to them, ruthlessly swinging there weapons at each other. They had cuts and bruises on their faces, and their armor was torn so much that only half of their masks remained on their faces. Had no one known any better, they would think it was a possessed navy blue sword Kirby that lost his hat fighting another dark pink possessed cupid Kirby who lost his arrows.

Meta was concentrating on his battle, but he was pleased that everyone was working hard. He saw them all, he wanted to thank them. He did not understand why Marx was helping them, nor did he trust Marx. But at the same time it did not seem like Marx would betray them swiftly after this fight. Perhaps then he would explain himself. He ducked from the swing of the lance, Galacta had exhausted himself too much to use his sword beams and tornados anymore. It was an irritation for Galacta Knight and a relief for Meta Knight.

"Even if you defeat me…there is no guarantee you will keep your freedom!" Galacta Knight roared at his opponent, pressing his lance against his sword. "Once they realize you are even more powerful than me, they will seal you away as well!" Galacta snickered.

"So you're accepting defeat Galacta Knight?" Meta asked tauntingly, there was no smile on his face though. A loud monstrous moan was heard, most likely Zero Two. Meta could see the four Kirbys leaving the fixed Main Cannon 2. He smirked inside.

Galacta snorted. "Heavens no! I'm saying you cannot win." Galacta shook his head, still pressing against Meta Knight's sword. "Come now Meta Knight, Death is better than eternal imprisonment."

"So you want me to give up? You want this to be easy?" Meta questioned.

"No…but you don't seem like you even trying to keep your title. Instead you want to save this inferior planet and these weaklings you call people!" Galacta scoffed.

"Let me tell you something."

* * *

><p>The four kirbys climbed into the broken window. They were wet from the rain. Bandana grabbed the walkie talkie from Sailor Dee quickly. "Everyone, get out of the way NOW!" he shouted.<p>

Outside King Dedede heard his assistant and tapped Marx's hat. "They're ready! Let's get out of here!" Marx nodded in return, they both teleported. The other kirbys used their machines to make a break for the ship deck. Zero laughed silently.

"You cannot hide from me!" he boomed.

* * *

><p>"I realized something when I became the Greatest Warrior in the Galaxy, all I won was a title. Just that, a title. So far it has brought me nothing but trouble!" Meta's force became stronger. "My home has become even more endangered by those who wish to take the title from me! Those beyond the stars who wish to not only take the title, but destroy my home! My people!" Meta bellowed. Very few on the planet has seen the battles Meta endured with the otherworldly. But they were pretty intense.<p>

"You speak like you're a king, Meta Knight. In fact, your more fit as a king than that a pathetic excuse for penguin I saw before." Galacta snickered.

"Don't try and flatter me! I wish to rule and put the people to work yes, but I would not enslave them like you would if you had the chance!" Meta snarled. He heard something crack; Meta examined the pink lance closely. A small crack was beginning to appear, growing larger, very slowly.

A loud burst of energy exploded from the Main cannon 2, it's blue, powerful beam stretched across the stormy sky. Bursting right through Zero Two's blood shot eye, the creature shrieked in pain. Flapping and spinning around like it was having a seizure. One of its wings slapped the ship, rustling the entire thing a little. The body began falling from sight.

In a second, the hot pink lance instantly snapped into pieces. At the release of pressure, Meta Knight's sword slashed Galacta Knight's face, as if he back-handed him. The dark pink knight stumbled toward the ground, his mask completely shattered.

"Impossible!" Galacta screeched in pain. He rose, a large bloody gash on the side of his intimidating face. "I shall have my revenge!" His wings glowed white. "You shall not sleep well Meta Kni-GWACK!" The pain cut his sentence short, his expression turned to horror. He gurgled his own blood, choking on Meta Knight's sword.

Meta stared at his victim coldly, his red eyes even darker and more sinister than Galacta's. He showed no regret in shoving his sword down Galacta Knight's mouth, felt a little good actually. "This was your revenge…" He swiftly pulled out his sword. "You just failed to complete it."

Galacta Knight's corpse began glow white and crack. His corpse shattered to pieces on the ground and then disintegrated to dust. The only thing that was left was a hot pink diamond, glowing with power. Meta Knight picked it up and studied it. It was a beautiful gem, but was this the core of the dark knight? Meta Knight sighed, looking at his reflection in the gem. His cape and shoulder pads were gone, all that remained was half his mask. His red eyes slowly faded white as his cold expression became a relieved frown.

Meta turned half way around to his crew who had gathered next to the cannon. Their horrified and worried expressions suggested they saw Meta Knight stab Galacta Knight in the mouth. Meta Knight was about to do the unthinkable, but he might as well since he only had half his mask intact. As he was turning around, he pulled off the remaining part of his mask. Revealing his navy blue Kirby-like face to his crew. All seven Kirbys gasped in surprise, except for the pink Kirby of course. King Dedede's mouth hung wide open, Sailor Dee, Bandana Dee, and Marx were all speechless.

"What's wrong? You all act like you have never seen a Kirby before." He smiled. Sailor Dee snapped himself out of his trance.

"Were just glad you're ok, Captain!" Sailor smiled. The others nodded. Meta Knight's smile faded, he looked at Marx emotionlessly. Marx lowered his head.

"Uhh…I can't explain it completely but-"

"Everyone prepare for cleaning." Meta interrupted him." I need to have a word with Marx alone." Everyone scattered immediately. The pink Kirby turned to look at the two curiously, before leaving to assist the others. Meta Knight approached Marx slowly, right until they were almost face to face. "Tell me everything." Meta Knight said lowly and surprisingly calm.

**-End of Chapter 13-**

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note:<br>**

**I am so sorry this was late! School got intense again. The epilogue is next, Magolor will be there for those of you who missed him! Next chapter shouldn't take long...Hope there isn't too many grammar mistakes!  
><strong>


	14. Chapter 14: New Powers, New Journeys

**-Chapter 14- -Epilogue-**

An alarm woke him from his sleep, it wasn't loud but it was enough. He slowly peeped open his golden eye. The Halcandran sat up from his pure white bed. His dream …was silent to say the least. Magolor didn't really dream of anything honestly. All he saw was darkness… that was it. A few hours had passed; it only seemed like five minutes in the dream. He sat up to realize his regal outfit was nice and blue again, no longer charred from Landia's fire. His cape had become white like snow, the Lor must have given him a new outfit in his sleep. A white door slid open across the room. Magolor slowly got up from his bed, walking over to the exit.

Magolor was still pretty shocked he hadn't had any serious nightmares let alone even get to sleep. He just came from Hell and back, you would think he would get up screaming and try to gouge his own eyes out. But no, it seemed like nothing happened recently at all!

_Then again, why should I be asking for Nightmares_? Magolor thought to himself. He began to enter the elevator down the hall. _I'll probably have enough of them to last me a life time later on!_ He stood inside the grey elevator, it was a circular space. There was a blue star painted on the floor. He smiled under his white scarf. Magolor was pretty proud of the upgrades he made to the ship, especially the paint job. The Lor Starcutter was bland and wooden before he upgraded it.

The elevator reached the top, door opening to the white control room. The elevator faded away around Magolor, he turned around to the control panel around him. The buzzing, bright lights under the wide screen monitor. The monitor said they had reached their destination. Already? Magolor was so deep in sleep he didn't even know when they landed.

Speaking of destination, the Lor never told Magolor where they were going. In fact, all it showed him was a white planet with a small, yellow moon orbiting it. Lor also said it was in a different dimension, meaning it was far away from Halcandra.

In the middle of the control panel, a small light appeared. It materialized a blue strap, with a white device on the middle. It had little dials and buttons on the bottom of the screen. The white light then directed itself at Magolor's face. The intensity of ray became strong, blinding almost. A gush of information was sent into Magolor's mind, the force was enough to knock Magolor over with a THUD!

Magolor groaned, holding his head as he rose. The ribbon wrapped itself around Magolor left mitten, right around the middle since he didn't have wrists. Oddly enough, Magolor knew how to work the entire wrist band as soon as he took a look at it; Like he had owned it all his life.

_It's like the Lor implanted the information into my mind! That's awesome!_ Magolor knew there were powers that the Lor kept hidden. He finally got to experience one of them firsthand. He pressed one of the white buttons.

"Lor, where did you take me?" He asked. No response. Magolor sighed. "You can at least try and talk to me you know…"

Suddenly a white light began to glow right where the exit of Ship normally was. An opening appeared, compelling Magolor to walk through it. Magolor was scared out of his mind, what if the Lor sent him to an inhabitable planet and left him there to die.

_Oh come on!_ Magolor scolded himself. _The Lor wouldn't do that! If that was the case it wouldn't have come to me in the first place!_ He clapped his face a few times, preparing himself for the worst. "Here goes!" The Halcandran held his hands out in front of him; he began dashing toward the opening. The light became closer and closer, until it engulfed him.

He expected to incinerated, burned, beaten to death, crushed, something! But instead he felt a harsh cold sensation as his face hit the ground. It was just so cold!

"AHHH! C-c-c-c-c-cold! Freezing cold! AH!" Magolor squealed. Waddling around in whatever he landed on. He couldn't taste it thankfully due to his scarf. Magolor came to an abrupt stop from flailing and lifted up his head up. His eyes widened.

The sky was a faint bluish grey; under it was a winter wonderland. The pure white snow had sparkles of rainbow snowflakes and gorgeous crystals scattered everywhere. Sometimes blue brick roads could be visible along with (oddly) bright, purple flowers around the edges of them. The temperature was chilling, but it felt soothing to Magolor. Most likely cause he was used to the Heat of Halcandra or the inferno. He got up slowly, staring around him.

"Lor….Lor what is this place?" Magolor picked up the pure snow from the ground. "Its…its beautiful!" His band made a beeping sound, the screen began to type in some words.

_Shiver Star _

_Shiver Star?_ Something clicked in Magolor's mind. "This planet is really close to Popstar!"

_Kirby hasn't been here for years…_

"How do you know?" Maoglor asked wearily.

_You didn't read too much about the Dark Matter invasions did you?_

The Lor got him there. Magolor really hadn't. "Heheh, you got me there!"

_Kirby doesn't go space traveling that often. There is actually a low chance he will come back here._ The Lor is right, Kirby rarely (if ever) returns to any planets he has visited on his free time.

"So now what?"

_Look in the distance…_

Magolor looked through the hills, a brightly colored building was in the distance. It looked a lot like a shopping mall. "I see… a type of mall!"

_There's no one in it. The dominant inhabitants of this planet left long ago._

"Why?"

_It is unknown why they left…or where they went._

"So it's all mine?"

_That is…if you can clear out the other living creatures inside._

"How am I gonna do that?"

_Did you already forget the powers you absorbed from the Master Crown?_

Magolor opened his hand. He concentrated on creating an energy ball, moments passed. Nothing. Magolor sighed with disappointment and let his hand drop. The band started beeping and typing in rainbow colors.

_Don't give up so easily! You must be patient. Soon, your powers will become like second nature!_

Magolor couldn't help but smile under his scarf. The Lor was so encouraging to him. He raised his hand again, Magolor couldn't give up. He managed to stay strong in the inferno, he can stay strong and learn his new powers. He tried so hard to imagine, to see the energy ball. Nothing. The band beeped again, now the words the Lor was sending were wavy and mysterious.

_Try and bring out the limitless power that flows within you. Let the power seep into where you want it to appear. Bend the power to your will and allow your soul and mind to flow with it. The only limits to your power are you and your body, Magolor._

"It wasn't this complicated when the crown was on my head."

_That was because the Master Crown was doing this for you, bringing your thoughts to life. But now you must do that on your own._

"So rather than automatic, I have to switch to manual. Fantastic." Magolor said unenthusiasticly. He started to feel some strange current from inside of him, flowing into his hand. Blue sparks began appearing, before a large blue energy ball emitted from his hand.

"WHOA! Amazing!" Magolor cried as his hand vibrated under the strong energy. So powerful, that when Magolor let his concentration slip, the ball exploded in his face. He fell onto the snow, he rose up laughing though. The band started to beep.

_Be careful now! Stay concentrated. While your power is limitless, it can put a strain on your body. It also has the potential to kill you, so don't go…'crazy.'_

Magolor chuckled. "Yeah, lesson learned!" Magolor started to walk to the Mall in the distance…unsure what was waiting for him.

* * *

><p>When Meta Knight said "tell him everything", he got more than what he expected. The first thing Marx did of all things was actually apologize to Meta knight for being jerk a while ago. That is unlike him in every aspect of his character. Marx also explained everything from Marx Soul to his adventures with Magolor in the inferno. And he was telling the WHOLE truth, this was mostly because Marx didn't want to get "cut" like Galacta knight; to put it nicely.<p>

They remained on the deck of the Halberd while everyone else was already cleaning. Zero's body had fallen into Orange Ocean and part of the water had been tainted by Zero Two's dark blood. A bloody hole was where Zero's blood red eye should have been. King Dedede ordered the remaining soldiers not go near the water, or drink from it.

Meta looked like a navy blue Kirby with ghostly white eyes. His armor and mask were gone and all that remained was his golden sword Galaxia. He held a hot pink diamond in his hand, it was all that remained of Galacta Knight. He sat on the edge of the deck next to Marx, who had retracted his wings. His jester hat was soggy and damp, but Marx didn't seem to mind too much. He had band aids on his face, and few more scratches from Zero Two's shards. Marx looked down at the clouds below, his large eyes filled with sorrow and regret. The whole story was actually a little bit painful to tell, he missed Magolor quite a bit. Marx felt like maybe he should have done more for his friend or maybe even gone with him. Who knows where the Lor Starcutter took him, or if Marx will ever see Magolor again.

"I'm surprised you forgave me after all I said to you. After all I did to this planet." Marx began solemnly.

"I can forgive, but I can never forget." Meta responded quietly, turning to Marx. "I want to thank you for helping us all. I know it wasn't necessarily for us, but I am grateful."

"Er…yeah sure." They got up, walking toward the middle of the deck. All of the Kirbys had decided to clean and repair the holes in the ship. (Pink) Kirby, Yellow Kirby, Sailor Dee and Bandana Dee had just finished putting in a new window for the control room when they spotted Meta Knight and Marx. They leaped down to greet the two.

"Sir Meta Knight! Yellow would like to-" Bandana was interrupted by screaming from a walkie talkie. Meta pulled the device from behind him.

"Your majesty, what is wrong?" He said seriously.

"It's-Its Zero! He's alive! Its-"King Dedede screamed before the Halberd began to rustle. In front of the ship came Zero Two, beaten to a pulp, flying around sporadically and blindly. Moaning in pain and panic, the white creature began flying off into the atmosphere.

"What the hell?" Marx exclaimed. Everyone stared in disbelief, as the creature fled the planet, struggling.

_Damn it!_ Meta Knight thought as his eye glinted red for a second_. If only the army wasn't crippled, we could have very well finished Zero off._

The King came on a warp star on the side of the ship. The star placed him right by the group before shattering.

"It was real sudden, we didn't even see it coming!" The King was panting franticly. "What are we going to do?"

Meta Knight cringed, the army and the Halberd were both a mess. "We are all in no condition to fight, we must recover quickly before we can give a chase. How many casualties are there your majesty?" The King gulped, he pulled out a clip board. Sweat was dripping down his face onto the paper. His other waddle dees did the counting for him, and he was really happy he didn't count it himself.

"Out of the 50,000 soldiers, we have 30,829 casualties, NOT counting deaths."

"What about with deaths?" Bandana and Marx asked at the same time. They looked at each other before looking back at the king. Now the King looked pale.

"With deaths…42,038!" King Dedede said wildly dropping the clipboard on the wooden floor. Everyone's face went pale as snow. Sailor Dee dropped to the floor and began to shed enough tears to overflow the ocean below. Who knows how many waddle dees that could have been! Bandana and Kirby patted his back in a futile attempt to comfort him.

That only leaves 7,962 members of the army in alive and in good condition. Meta Knight growled in frustration. Clenching his fists, sometimes this knight just didn't know his own strength. The pink gem in his hand began to crack under the pressure. Until the gem just couldn't take it anymore, it exploded with a disturbing sound. Made the entire group jump at the disturbance.

Everyone looked toward Meta Knight, who cursed from the pain of the gem shards impaling his hand. His red blood was dripping on the ground.

"Sir Meta Knight!" Sailor and Bandana Dee squealed at the same time.

"The heck did you do?" the king with confusion.

The shards evaporated into a gas, now there was a pink dust surrounding Meta Knight, spiraling faster and faster. Somehow squeezing him, Meta Knight fidgeted and groaned. Now it was becoming stifling, the dust seeped into every pore of his body, creeping its way into his very soul. It was a horrendous scorching sensation inside of him, like something was forcefully fusing its way into him. Something Meta Knight's soul wanted to reject, but couldn't. Meta dropped to his hands once the pain stopped and the dust disappeared. Kirby immediately rushed to his side, patting his back in an attempt to wake him up.

"I'm fine Kirby." Meta said calmly. He got up from the ground, his eyes were dark pink. Just the color made everyone jolt with fear. The eyes slowly faded back white.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Marx asked wearily.

"Yes, but I feel some new power within me." Meta pulled out his sword, it was engulfed in flames and electricity. He smirked. The sight was astounding to everyone, it was pretty dang scary too. Meta saw everyone's anxiety and put his sword away. Yellow Kirby stepped toward the unmasked knight and pulled from behind him a long flowing black cape.

"We thought you could use this, since you lost your cape captain." Sailor Dee said happily.

"Thank you." Meta knight smiled. The cape actually shortened itself to Meta Knight's size.

Marx's eyes widened as Meta Knight wrapped the cape around him. "That's Nightmare's cape!"

"What!" King Dedede shouted.

But rather than pull the cloak off, Meta knight grinned. He absorbed the powers of Galacta Knight and obtained the cape of Nightmare. Who wouldn't be happy? The cape was actually quite comfy too. Seeing that Meta Knight was not going to take it off, Marx let the issue go.

"Anyways," Marx unfolded his wings. "I have someone to go find."

"You're leaving?" Bandana was surprised. He actually enjoyed Marx's company…oddly.

"I can't stay here, I have business to take care of. Maybe I'll come back in a few years."

"Thanks!" a high, childish voice said. Marx turned to see it came from Kirby. The pink one had a weary smile on his face.

Marx groaned. Setting his hate aside, he said begrudgingly. "You're welcome." The jester flapped his wings, taking off to the skies and disappearing above the clouds.

"Good luck Marx." Meta knight said as he watched the beautiful sunset reappear.

"So what do we do now?" The King walked up to the captain.

"Continue cleaning. I will be down in a little while to assist." Meta responded. The king had no objections to that surprisingly.

"Everyone come on!" King Dedede motioned the others to leave the deck.

Meta Knight continued to look at the serene view of Orange Ocean. But the sense of unease would not cease, it may never leave him. _This isn't over._ He thought jadedly.

* * *

><p>He sat in the dimly lit room, breathing heavy. The room had blue zigzag lines on the top and bottom with stars and pink square. Magolor sat on the edge of an aquarium tank, feeding the fishes inside. The tank had rocks, seaweed and blue pebbles at the bottom. The fish were small and orange, very few with different colors.<p>

Magolor got some dirt on him fighting those wild creatures in the abandoned mall. They were all pretty hostile, biting him, throwing rocks and spears at him. Magolor had to put up his blue star shield a few times. What kind of abandoned mall has cannons, weights with one eye and man-eating frogs hiding in the most random places! Magolor had enough trying to clear these kritters out.

His wrist band began beeping. Magolor groaned as the word typed.

_Are you taking a break?_ The Lor asked.

"You could say that." Magolor responded groggily

_Don't tell me you want to give up…._

"How did you know?"

_We're starting to grow a bond. I can sense your feelings through this band I gave you._

"So you can read my mind through my feelings?"

_Yes._

"Cool, but that's not helping me very much." Magolor said blankly.

_Look at it like this, you're not anywhere near as close to death as you were on Halcandra._

"True." Magolor rose up, he was tired and exhausted. "I could go back and sleep, how did Kirby deal with this?"

_Years of adventuring from since birth._

"Oh…yeah I guess."

_Surprised you're bothered by this. You worked nonstop in a factory most of your life._

"Yeah, but I wasn't fighting multiple monsters at once!" Magolor sighed.

_Can you come back to the entrance? _

"What? Hell no! Those monsters somehow reappear after I leave a room, I don't think I can make it!"

_Then you might as well keep going._

"UGH! Lor!" Magolor sighed in aggravation.

_Fine…wait a second._

The band began glowing white as did Magolor, brighter and brighter. Magolor closed his eyes as he felt the ground disappear underneath him. It was a few seconds before he felt a surface again. He opened his eyes to see the white control room of the Lor Starcutter.

_Magolor…_The large monitor in room wrote…

"Yeah?"

_Have you ever wanted to space travel?_

"DO I!" Magolor's childhood dreams were now coming into full swing. His golden eyes shined bright with glee.

_I see you have gotten the hang of a decent amount of your powers. You might just be able to defend yourself while exploring._

Magolor's was jumping up and down, this was something he always wanted to do. But a hint of sadness pinched him. He stopped jumping, he was going space traveling…alone. Not with his parents, not with Aureole, not with Marx. No one.

_You feel alone…the few that you became close to are not here._

"They're gone." Magolor quivered as he said that.

_Uncertain fates are always the worst ones…_

"I wanna find them, but I'm not allowed to go back Halcandra. And I can't even begin to try and find Marx." He started shed tears, tears that he has always wanted to shed for a long time.

_It is fine if you want to cry. Sometimes tears are necessary._

The halcandran started to bawl then, The tears he couldn't release at the factories, tears he couldn't release fully in the inferno. Finally a moment to shed all tears locked away in his soul for so long. He was alone in almost everything he did, and he was alone now. Every time he came close to finally having a long life companion he either screwed it up of fate did it for him.

But then he thought, would Aureole want him to cry, would Marx? Would his parents? No. He instantly shut himself up, wiping the tears from his face. They all made sacrifices for Magolor, his parents did what they could to give him a home. Aureole managed to keep him sane all those years in the factory. Marx managed to do all those things together and help him stay alive in the inferno. Even if he was alone, he had people who supported him. People he could never forget, he knew they supported him even when Magolor couldn't see them. Supporting him, even when they were far away, even when they have passed away., It would be selfish to complain of being alone.

_You shouldn't keep things bottled in you know._ The Lor typed, noticing Magolor had abruptly stopped crying.

"I shouldn't. But I don't need to cry. I shouldn't cry after what people in my life have done for me. " Magolor said in a low, reassuring tone. _They would all want me to live out my dreams. _He said in his mind. _I got away from Halcandra, I escaped the flames. I can live doing what I want, when I want, and how I want to._

_Well then in that case, why don't we get started?_ The Lor typed in_. I have a planet in mind._ The ship showed a planet shaped like a red heart with a sort of smiley face. _Ripple Star is quite similar to Pop Star._

"Alright, Ripple Star is first then!" Magolor said happily. His face became bright and delighted.

_The first of many..._ Typed the Lor Starcutter.

Magolor smiled warmly under his white scarf; perhaps he wasn't alone after all. Magolor teleported himself toward the control panel, he was getting better at that at least! He pressed the large green button in the middle.

"Will we come back to Shiver Star?" Magolor asked. "I kinda like it here!"

_Of course! You can call it our "base of operations" or "home base."_

"Good, thanks Lor!" Magolor grinned wider than he ever did in his life.

Outside the Lor Starcutter lifted itself from the snow. Flapping its blue ores and turning toward the sky. After a few seconds it dashed away at warp speed from the frigid surface of Shiver Star, blazing toward the skies. The ship and its captain traveled through the stars ready to dive into the known and unknown parts of the Gamble Galaxy. Will they travel to other galaxies? Will Magolor ever see Aureole or Marx ever again? Only time can tell us of such special events, time and time alone.

**-End of Chapter 14-**

Or should we say…

**-THE END…?-**

* * *

><p><strong> Author's final Note:<br>**

**Thus ends...Through the Flames of Revenge. Concluding my First Fan Fiction, I like it actually. Most people like it and say I was in character for the most part . My only issue was my grammar and spelling on the occasions. Now a sequel, that is a maybe. If it does end up being created, it may come out in the late fall. Everything is still up in the air about it.  
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**Some fun facts: This was supposed to be done since the end of March, but school and state tests delayed my ability to finish until the end of May. During some action scenes like Chapters 5, 6, 8, 10, and 13. I played some video game boss music while writing. Mostly from Kirby's Return to Dreamland, Metroid Prime 2 and 3, NiGHTS into dreams and Sonic Rush. Galacta Knight wasn't supposed to be part of the story originally! But after comparing a story map of him in or not in the story and recommendation from some friends, he got in. This story would have ended very differently if Galacta Knight didn't come when he did.  
><strong>

**I would like to thank the fans of the story for being patient with me, you guys are the best. I get pretty excited when I see a review you know! I love writing for fun and getting feed back. Even if my chapter just brightened up someone's day! It good to know I made some one feel good, somewhere out there in this strange and gloomy world.  
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**Until my next story,  
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**-DragoonMach5  
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